The Secret Relationship
by FiatSolvesTheLink
Summary: Lucina deals with the aftermath of Robin's sacrifice after defeating Grima, including a secret love between the two of them developed during their time together. Post-Awakening.
1. The Secret

_One month ago…_

Robin laid down on the comfortable, luxurious bed in one of Valm castle's bedrooms. He had a super tiring day before him, and could not remember the last time he laid down on an actual, comfortable bed. After months of living in tents, sleeping on the ground, fighting in battles against Valm in less than optimal conditions such as a volcano, Robin almost forgot the feeling of a real bed for once. For the previous day, Robin had been fighting alongside the Shepherds to seize Valm Castle and defeat Walhart. It had been a super stressful week. Robin had to come up with all the plans of attacking the castle, studying every fort, wall, and enemy positions to ensure victory without loss of life. He had been lacking sleep from the previous week due to overwork. He was just glad all of it paid off, with all the Shepherds living to see another day. He knew that they would have to deal with Validar later, for one moment he just wanted to be stress free and relax.

The Shepherds had just conquered Valm Castle and defeated the conqueror of Valm, Walhart. The entire mood was festive, with many Shepherds now in the massive dining hall enjoying a massive feast and party. Robin was at the feast earlier, seeing Gregor on his Naga-knows-how-many bottle of beer, Stahl devouring anything in his sight, Maribelle chastising others for eating food in a barbaric way and not refined like a cultured person, and other interactions. However, he himself just wanted a place to rest, and asked Chrom to excuse himself to a bedroom in the castle from fatigue.

There was a knock on the door. Robin ignored it at first. It was not that he did not want to go there. He was simply too exhausted and just wanted alone time. However, when the knocking persisted and even became a full force pounding, Robin groggily slumped over to the door, about to get mad at Chrom for disrupting his personal time. However, it was actually Lucina. Robin's anger immediately dissipated and felt his heart beat faster than usual. Even with a scar on her cheek from the earlier battle, Robin practically melted. Ever since the two confessed their love for each other, they have been trying to see each other secretly. It was not easy, with Robin being gone most of the time planning for upcoming battles. They only really saw each other during dinnertime, and even then, all they could do was maybe mutter a few words and exchange a few glances lest it becomes too suspicious.

"Lucina", Robin muttered, "shouldn't you be at the feast?"

"No. I wanted to see you. I missed you so much, Robin."

"But you see me every day! And I am pretty sure you saw me like an hour ago at the victory party."

"I know."- she whispered and move her lips to connect with Robin's.

"Mmmmp."

Although Robin was at first caught off guard, he soon embraced the kiss the two awe-struck lovers were in. They were stuck like this for only around 30 seconds, but to Robin, it seemed like an eternity. Robin could only stare at Lucina in astonishment. He didn't move a muscle. It seemed like he was paralyzed, and Robin looked like he was trying to remember what his name was. Robin blushed, and then invited Lucina to join him in the room.

 _Present Day…_

"...NNGH...AAAAUGHHH..."

"Now, Robin! This is our chance! I'm going to finish it!"

However, Robin had other plans. He knew that if he did not personally defeat Grima, he will eventually just come back and their descendants will have to fight him and potentially lead to the end of the world. Chrom and all of the Shepherds urged him to reconsider, not to sacrifice himself, and tell him there will probably be a better solution in the future. Although nobody in the camp knew of their secret love relationship, Lucina was super insistent, telling Robin that she never had a normal day in life and just wanted to experience a normal life. She promised him that because the war will be over, they can work out all the nuances of the relationship such as getting Chrom to accept the relationship and other details. Robin vaguely promised Lucina he will do all he can to make sure they can live together peacefully after the war ends, but never specified on whether or not he was going to sacrifice himself. In his mind, he already he made his decision. He was going to seal away Grima and hope, through whatever gods or goddesses of luck that exists, that he will survive and make it back. Ignoring Chrom's statement, Robin tranquilly walked forward to face off against his doppelganger.

"... Robin?! Wait, what-"

"...WHAT...WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"For once, I'm glad you and I are the same. Now I can give my life to protect those I care for..."

"...YOU WOULD...NOT DARE!"

"I would and I will. The evils you would visit on this world are unthinkable... In some way, I—we share the blame. It's only right we meet our end together!"

"...NOOOOOOO!"

Raising his hand with his tome book, Robin yelled "THORON". A wave of magical electricity came out of Robin's hands, striking Grima. He looked back at Chrom. He was starting to lose his vision and hearing. He could see Lucina in the back, falling to the ground with tears in her eyes, trying to yell something. He could hear nothing. Robin looked at himself to see he himself was dissipating, become a ghost. In a desperate last attempt, he opened his mouth and muttered out:

Thank you, Chrom. For...everything... Tell the others...and your daughter….my last thoughts were of them... May we meet again, in a better life... "

Then everything went black.

Lucina looked on in horror as she saw Robin disappear in the mist. Even though they hid their relationship from the Shepherds for months ever since they met before going to fight Valm, she could not control herself. Tears began to fall uncontrollably from her eyes as she ran to grab Robin, hoping to touch him one last time before he disappeared.

"ROBIN. No. Noooooooo. You can't. You can't just die Robin. You.. You… promised. You promised we were going to live a happy life together after Grima was defeated."

It was no use. Robin simply disappeared like mist into the sky. Lucina watched forlornly as Robin's remains scattered across the air and her hands were touching nothing but the air. It was almost as though he never appeared. Nothing, not even his robe, existed.

To Lucina, the rest of the day was a blur. All the Shepherds were pretty relieved that the war was finally over and that Armageddon was averted. However, nobody felt like celebrating. The death of their tactician, whom personally made sure everybody survived every battle, was heartbreaking for the entire crew. Everybody was making statements about Robin and how they wished for him to come back to him, along with thanking him that he never made sacrifices to anybody in battle to ensure everybody survived. None of this even reached Lucina. Besides losing Robin, there was actually another reason she didn't want Robin to sacrifice himself. Just a few days ago, she realized she was pregnant. After experiencing about stomach cramps and nausea, she secretly stole some of Libra's staffs and using her limited information on staff usage, examined herself and discovered the truth. Worst part was, she was absolutely sure it was Robin was the father. There was nobody else she had been intimate with, and the only explanation was from that night she and Robin spent the night together in Valm Castle after defeating Walhart. It had been one of her happiest days in her life. She knew she should have just stayed in the dining room and not followed Robin when he excused himself to sleep.

Knowing this, Lucina knew that it was not something she could hide from her parents and the rest of the crew months from now. All she could do was mutter, "My father is going to kill me."


	2. The Way Back

It took approximately five days to get from Origin Peak back to Yllistol Castle. During the long and arduous journey back home, Lucina tried to have a positive outlook on what happened. After all, Grima, the monster that stole most of her childhood, slayed her family, obliterated her country, and almost caused the extinction of the human race, perished. Not only that, Robin's sacrifice ensured that he was actually going to stay dead, and would never again threaten the fate of world ever again. However, on the inside, she was extremely melancholy. Grima's demise meant Robin was gone as well, and she would probably never see him again. Of course there was the infinitesimal chance that he would be revived, but Lucina, growing up in an extremely pessimistic future, was not about to trust her chances. In her mind, he was gone forever and there was nothing she could do about it. He was the first love she ever had, and just thinking about him made tears flow down her eyes. To make matters worse, Lucina understood the implications of their relationship. This meant that she could not tell the other Shepherds and it really just made it more painful for her just keeping the secret to herself, without anybody to assuage her. The fact that Robin's unborn child was growing inside her stomach also complicates matters.

Her original plan was to go back to her future as soon as Grima was defeated along with the other children. After all, it seemed like the right thing to do. All of the other children seemed to share this sentiment. They did not belong in this timeline. Of course, Chrom and the others have made it perfectly clear that they wanted them to stay and will always be part of the family.

Now that her mission was over, she was considering her options carefully she walked alongside the Shepherds. On one hand, she really wanted to see Robin again, and wanted to wait for his return, even if the probability is low. She also did not want to leave her parents, whom have helped her with mission to defeat the Fell Dragon. On the other hand, she shuddered at the thought when her father finds out she had slept with Robin and impregnated her. Chrom might have some stern words at her, but thinking about the ways Chrom could torture and castrate Robin when he came back from the dead was not something she wanted to see. I could never forgive myself if Robin got hurt by my father. This wasn't his fault, I fell for him too. Perhaps it is best I return to my time and not let Robin's reputation and legacy be tarnished. Chrom would never suspect a thing, and everything will end up just fine. After all, Robin did most important part of the job in sealing away Grima, and it would be a shame if he was remembered in Ylissian history books as the unfaithful servant who seduced and defiled the Ylissian princess. Before she could make up her mind, she talked to Tiki about her thoughts, and any plans to return to the future went down the drain before they were ever made.

"So now that our mission is over, I believe it should be appropriate for us to return to our original timelines. Do you think we should though?" Lucina was saying to Tiki as they were walking along the dirt road back to the castle. She was extremely conflicted and wanted to hear Tiki, whom probably would be the most helpful and understanding of her predicament, on her viewpoint.

"Unfortunately, I do not possess such power. Also, the Mother would only use such a power in times of great calamity, and such a time has passed. Also, I believe her powers from the previous time travel has exhausted her powers for quite a while, so even if she did agree to send you and all the children back, she currently lacks the power to. It would probably take years for her to acquire such ability back." Tiki stated. She turned to look at Lucina in the eye and said, "But don't you want to be in this timeline? After all, there is actually a bright future ahead."

"Yeah, but…but… it just doesn't seem right to interfere anymore here. Our jobs are finished, and I believe that my parents Chrom and Sumia have their own children to care for in this timeline. Same for the others."

"Lucina, I'm sorry to say there is no way as of right now to send you back to your future. I will inform you if such an event comes up, and you would even be lucky if such an opportunity comes up in even a decade. I suggest you settle down in this timeline and enjoy yourself. After all, you do have a bright future ahead of you. And for everybody else. You have definitely earned it. Also, I don't think there is any point in actually traveling back. Simply trying to travel ten years into the future when you could just wait ten years for the same events to occur seems extremely unnecessary."

"Well, it looks like that decision was pretty much made for me." Lucina thought to herself. "But what will my father say? And what is he going to do with Robin if he comes back? This isn't something I can hide from him five months down the line."

After that, Lucina simply walked in peace alongside others back to the castle. She tried to forget Robin and trying to think about other things, but for some reason, Robin always popped back into her head. For some reason, his death affected her more than it should have. She had witnessed the Grima's destruction of the future and multiple brave Ylissian soldiers dying from Risen attacks. She had witnessed the deaths of multiple Shepherds while attempt to fight Risen. She had gone through the painful experience of hearing from castle guards that her parents were never coming back from a battle. In fact, she had become indifferent towards death. So why was Robin's death affecting her more than usual? Deep down, there was something she saw in Robin that did not exist in other Shepherds, but she was afraid of what the truth was. Was it love? Was it jealousy? She was afraid of what information her heart holds, and what secrets her heart could leak.

"Remind me to never scratch my heart." She muttered to herself. "I don't believe I can handle the truth."

* * *

In a week, the Shepherds had arrived back at Yllistol Castle. During the night, there was a big celebration in the castle from their victory against Grima and the Fell Dragon. Although Robin was still fresh on everybody's minds, people were still in a festive and celebratory mood. There was food of virtually every edible animal and plant anyone could think up of, exotic dishes from continents as far as Magvel, lavish cakes as tall as a person only seen in exorbitant weddings, in seemingly endless quantity. There was nothing the party was missing. Everybody was sitting on the tables, chattering, laughing, and having a splendid time. Even alcohol and meat, which Chrom had rationed during wartime, was in abundant quantity, and even Chrom himself indulged in these luxuries. Shepherds were chattering with each other, happy that they lived through such a war. Even the children, growing up in the bleak future, had to smile at such an event. Well, all but maybe Lucina, who was still depressed from Robin's death.

"Why? Why does it have to be me?" thought Lucina as she sat down despondingly beside Yarne and Gerome. "Everybody's significant other has survived the war, but mine had to die. It's not fair!"

"Lucina come on and try this." Gerome said "I don't think we ever had cooked bear meat before. This tastes absolutely delicious."

But Lucina did not hear a single word Gerome said. She was lost in thoughts, all alone.

"Lucina?"

"Huh? Uh…Yes."

"What? No Lucina, there's all these food we never had the luxury of eating when we were growing up. We would be lucky if we could even catch a rat. Aren't you going to try some of them?"

"Yeah, these carrots are delicious. We would be lucky if we could even find carrots growing in the barren wasteland. This place is paradise." Yarne interrupted, "Hopefully taguels can bounce back from the brink of extinction and actually survive now."

"Oh, I'll do that later."

"Lucina is something wrong?" asked Gerome.

"Yeah, we finished our mission, but you don't seem happy that we achieved a task many thought would be impossible." said Yarne.

"No. Why would there be something wrong? I'm just thinking about the future. It's not a big deal really. Look I'm going to get some food. I'll be right back." Lucina said before quickly getting out of her seat and walked away faster than Yarne and Gerome could react.

Grabbing a plate and walking out of sight from her friends. Lucina let out a sigh of relief. "Phew. That was close. I need to be more careful about my emotions and my surroundings." she muttered to herself.

Ironically as she quietly whispered the statement to herself, she was unaware that her mother was actually next to her picking up a piece of steak from the pot. She heard what Lucina muttered secretly and knew something was up. Sumia turned around to face her daughter. It was obvious from Lucina's expression that something was bothering her daughter. Sumia was now determined to find out what was.

"Oh hi mother. Enjoying this feast?" Lucina asked nonchalantly.

"Oh yes. It's been a long time since I had some luxurious and delicious food. I was always afraid each day was my last and I would never experience such joy in my life ever again. But, Lucina, I want to talk about you. What's wrong?"

"Huh? Nothing. Nothing is wrong. Why do you ask, Mother?"

"Lucina, it is very obvious that something is on your mind. I can tell. You have been acting strange ever since we defeated Grima. You should be happy. After all, you have successfully prevented the desolate future. However, whenever I see you, you show little emotion. You seem more dejected than before facing off Grima."

"Do I? I'm actually very happy. I don't see what you mean mother."

"Lucina, I'm your mother; I can tell when something is wrong."

"…"

"Is it something about Robin?"

"N- no."

"Lucina, I believe there is something you are hiding from me. You may think you were subtle, but I see you two all the time sneaking glances at each other when we were in Valm. You also always fought alongside him in every battle, and I could not help but wonder why. I had my suspicions, but I decided to let it slip because you two seemed to be doing really well in battle and I was pretty sure Robin had other stressful matters to worry about. However, when Robin died, I could tell you were more emotionally broken than everybody else. Yes, it is sad that our tactician who ensured our victory no longer sits with us here today, but most of the Shepherds seemed to get over his death. You still look like you are grieving for him. I could see you were trying to hide your emotions even now at this party, but even then, I can tell you were in duress."

"…"

"It's Robin, isn't it?"

"Perhaps we could talk about this at another place? Also, if I tell you, can you promise me not to tell father or anybody else?" Lucina sighed and thought quickly about what could happen next. Sumia is really good at detecting when people lie, and she already deduced part of the story. There is pretty much no purpose to lie about this now.

"Of course, Lucina. You're my daughter. I would never tell others your secrets if it makes you feel uncomfortable."

"Okay, we should probably go to another room. Also, Mother, you are definitely not going to like what I have to say."


	3. Catharsis

Lucina and Sumia exited the banquet. They walked across the hall and entered Sumia's personal bedroom. It has been a year since Sumia last saw this place, and she was ecstatic to see the room exactly the way she had left it. It was clear the maids took great care of it. The room was tidy, the books on her shelves were ordered exactly the way she wanted, all her lavish dresses hung elegantly in the closet without any folds. Even her desk, which was usually disheveled with papers about current affairs, looked immaculate without a speck of dust.

Lucina barely noticed any of these miniscule details. She was still conflicted on what to say to her mother. She knew she had to tell her mother about her covert relationship with Robin: there was no point in lying about that. However, she was unsure on whether or not to tell her mother about her pregnancy. Lucina knew her parents would find out eventually; the question going through her head was: is there still a way to get away with it before it was too late? She carefully analyzed her situation. Plan A of traveling back to her own timeline was already out of the picture.

She immediately thought of a Plan B: agree to Robin's marriage proposal in order to cover up the scandal. However, upon further thought, she quickly abandoned that plan also. The chance of Robin coming back was microscopic, and even then, Lucina did not know when or where he would reappear. The chances of finding him alive somewhere in Ylisse, Valm, Regna Ferox, Valm, or another distant continent tomorrow was about the same chance of finding a needle in a haystack. Factor in another month to travel back to the castle and prepare for a shotgun wedding, her stomach would already have told the entire story.

Then she immediately tried to formulate a Plan C: Just run away and disappear from the castle for a year? No, that would just cause great stress to her parents and the Shepherds. Her disappearance means Ylisse will launch a massive manhunt for her, draining the country's already low gold reserves from fighting three costly wars in the previous years. No, if she wanted to disappear, she needed a good excuse. Maybe tell her parents she was going to look for Robin? After thinking back and forth, Lucina came to the conclusion that this plan was also unfathomable. Lucina was pretty sure Chrom has already ordered Ylissian soldiers to be on the lookout for Robin, and she doubt her father would let her go out the castle if she used that excuse. After all, she was a member of the Ylissian royal family, and losing her would a tragedy.

Taking this into consideration, Lucina then thought about the consequences of telling her parents the truth. Chrom and Sumia have never gotten mad at her before. Even after that time Cynthia and I scared all the Shepherds into thinking that the Risen were infiltrating the camp, Chrom was not mad at them and was quick to forgive. My parents could probably forgive me for this too. But if Robin came back, she was sure it was going to be a different story. Chrom would probably castrate Robin for defiling his "precious, innocent daughter". That problem can be dealt later, and hopefully by the time Robin does come back, Chrom would no longer be mad about this situation.

There was also the implication of an unwed princess carrying a child. Lucina did not pay attention too much when her parents taught her about social decorum. The Risen were a more urgent matter to deal with. However, if she recalled correctly, premarital relationships were heavily stigmatized. How would the kingdom react? After thinking about the topic, she cast that worry aside. Beside the Shepherds and maybe a few servants who worked at the castle, nobody in the kingdom knew her true identity. A cover up story would be super easy to fabricate.

Finally, she considered how the other Shepherds and children would react. This thought went back and forth, and Lucina ultimately believed that they would be accepting of the situation. After all, she came back to prevent the world from falling into an apocalypse. This was just something that happened accidentally on the side. They can probably understand it was an honest mistake, right? I saved the world from destruction, why should they care who I slept with? After all, most of the Shepherds were married, and most of the children had their own crushes. I just need to frame the situation as me making a mistake and me getting careless with Robin that one night in Valm Castle. That's all it was. No other explanations.

"It will all be fine." Lucina convinced herself silently and finally made her decision, "I have been through worse situations in my life. Okay, I will just start off telling my mother my relationship with Robin. Then I will probably reveal the secret if she approves of us being together. Relax. This can't be worse than the time you got ambushed by Risen assassins."

Taking a deep breath, Lucina faced her mother and started off with the exact words when she revealed her true identity to Chrom.

"I don't even know where to begin."

"Look. I know you and Robin are trying to see each other behind our backs. You two obviously care for each other a lot. If I was to guess, you two were dating secretly. It would explain all those secret glances and blushes on your face when you see Robin at the dinner table. I guess it would also explain why Robin was so happy to be fighting alongside you."

"Um.. Uh.."

"Look Lucina. I'm your mother. I'm not going to get mad at you for dating Robin. I'll admit, he is pretty attractive himself. I am not…"

"MOTHER!"

"Oh sorry, maybe I shouldn't ramble on about Robin. After all, I am married to king of Ylisse. He would probably not be happy if I said that. But enough about me. So how much of what I deduced was true?"

"Well, it was a pretty good guess. I'll go a little more into detail."

Trying to stay composed, Lucina continued. "Also this is a lengthy story, so you should probably get comfortable, Mother."

Sumia did not know what story could take so long for her daughter to confess, but Sumia decided against interfering. "Let's just listen to this story first." she thought to herself. "After all, I never was there for my daughter when she was young; she grew up without a fatherly nor motherly figure, and we never had time to bond since we were at war all the time. Now would probably be a good time to start."

"Let me start from the very I first went back to your timeline, I believed the world could be easily saved. All I had to do was prevent the Fire Emblem from being stolen and the world will never have to see Grima's wrath. After stopping Emmeryn's assassination, I thought the world was safe and I successfully saved the future. I quickly learned it was not so simple. When Emmeryn still died a few weeks later simply under different circumstances, I began to question whether my actions had any effect, but I tried to stay optimistic. However, as my fortune of events turned from bad to worse, my outlook on the future dropped significantly. First, my attempts to find gemstones during the two years of peace between the Plegian and Valm Wars ended in failure. Second, the dreaded Valm War which I had hoped to avert occurred just like in my original timeline. It seemed like no matter what I did, I could only delay the inevitable. I myself was convinced of this fact. After the battle at Valm Harbor, I knew I had to talk to Robin personally. As the grand tactician of the Shepherds, he was responsible for all our battle strategies and our lives. In the beginning, I met with him privately and told him my inner thoughts, about the bleak future, how we cannot allow such a catastrophe to happen, and how I was getting discouraged from my failures and everything we did was probably going to end up useless anyways."

"Robin.. However.. he… he did not share my views. No matter how many failures occurred, no matter how hopeless it seemed, he was always optimistic that everybody would live through the entire war and seal away the evil infecting the land. He always told me we invested too much to fail. He told me the future is not written. He gave me hope. Hope there was a better future. And that future was actually possible. And most importantly, he promised me that everybody would survive the war. He promised me that Grima was not going to terrorize the world ever again."

"After coming from such a harsh future where I would worry everyday if that day was going to be our last, I was extremely skeptical of his claims. He was probably saying all of this to comfort me. I didn't see hope anymore. I just couldn't. But he… he never gave up. I could really tell his determination to change the future. To me, Robin signified the impossible. He defeated the all three divisions of the Valmese military and Walhart. And he did so in a manner that was both efficient and effective, without any Shepherd deaths. He changed my entire outlook on the future. Even the gemstones, which I had given up looking, seemed to magically appear in front of him."

She feebly continued, "In the original timeline, the Valm War took around five years. Around half the Ylissian army was killed. Although Walhart was defeated, we were not doing much better after the war. It was the perfect chance for Grima to attack us. We were so weakened by the war that resistance was futile. Grima roamed freely in the world. In fact, Robin managed to not only end the Valm War in less than a year, but with no Shepherd deaths and nearly the entire Ylissian army living to see another day."

"I always was fascinated and loved him for all he has done for us. I.. As the war went on, and as conditions began to improve, it was really at those moments when he cheered me up that I fell for him. We began meeting more and more secretly. After conversing more, he gave me flowers he personally picked for me. He professed his love for me. He even asked me to marry him, knowing full well that father would not approve. In my mind, I should have just walked away from him. But I.. I couldn't. It's a feeling I could not describe. I could have easily walked out of the tent that day, but my legs felt glued to the ground. Instead, I ran up to him and gave him a kiss. I profess my love for him too, but I rejected his marriage proposal for personal reasons. He was not even mad. He just told me that if I ever changed my mind to marry him, he will always have that offer ready for me. In return, I told him he was always welcome to talk to me and I personally promised him I will always be at his side until Grima's demise."

"Aww… Lucina, you… There was not a man I trusted more than Robin. You two would have been perfect together. Oh.. Sweetie, why didn't you just accept his proposal?" Sumia asked.

"I was too afraid of what you and father would have thought. It also didn't feel right in the middle of a war. And I also believed I had to go back to the future after the war was done, so it would have been pointless to be married for maybe a few months and disappear forever. " Lucina quickly responded. Sumia began to open her mouth to interject, but Lucina had already started telling the next part of the story before she could get a word out.

"Anyways, we met in secret whenever we could. It was hard. Robin, he was always with Chrom planning strategies for the upcoming battles. We could only really talk and see each other around dinner time at the tables when all the Shepherds met together."

Conveniently skipping the part where she tried to kill her lover, Lucina continued, "Even when the Fell Dragon actually appeared, he still believed in victory. He believed we still had a chance, no matter how infinitesimal, that Grima will be sealed away and never again threaten the world. We… In the end, even as he died, he… he kept his ultimate promised to me. That all Shepherds would survive and the future would not be controlled by Grima."

Sumia listened to her daughter's entire story. Even though she showed no emotions, she was in reality tearing up from her daughter's story on the inside. Even her years of reading romance and adventure novels did not prepare her for this.

"Now that he is gone, it feels like my heart broke into a thousand pieces. He.. he sacrificed himself… just so me and the other children could reclaim our lives. Lives we never had because of Grima.. He did all he could for us, and in the end, he was the one that had to die."

Composing herself, Lucina looked up to her mother and asked "Why? Why did he have to be the one to die? He was probably the only person that deserved to live for all he has done for us. He never took us as pawns in a chess game. Besides maybe Basilio that one time after the battle at Fort Steiger, he never accepted sacrifices from us just so we could win a battle. He kept all of us alive, but in the end he was the only one that died for it. It.. It just isn't fair…. I would have gladly taken his place. My life feels empty without him." Even though she was trying hard to hold back to her tears, they began to form in her eyes.

"Also, before he sacrificed himself, I.. I just wanted to tell him one last time… that I loved him, and that I changed my mind and I would agree to marry him…and we could probably have a great life together… but when I opened my mouth to speak, he.. he was not there anymore…. He… he just disappeared… in the mist…. along.. with… Grima.. I.. I don't know if he.. he's going to come back. I.. I miss him so much, even though it's been just a week. "

It was more that Lucina could bear. She fell on her mother's arms and cried while hugging Sumia as tight as she could. Tears began to fall uncontrollably from Lucina's eyes.

"It.. it just isn't fair… He deserved his happy ending… as every hero… deserved…. "

Lucina finally let out a loud scream of agony on her mother's arms. Lucina got so emotional that she even forgot about the worries she had moments ago: whether or not to tell her mother she was pregnant. Instead, telling this story to her mother just made Lucina forget everything. It literally felt like her heart just exploded. Emotions rushed throughout her body like hysteria.

"I… I should have stayed with him in that final fight with Grima instead of my father. I.. would have never let him sacrifice himself. I broke my own promise to him.. to stay at his side until Grima was defeated. If I didn't break my promise, he would still be here… right now.. in my arms… There will always be a way to deal with Grima in the future should he ever decide to rise again. I would have dealt the final blow on Grima. Our battle was proof that Grima can always be sealed away. I know it's selfish of me to think this, but… Robin… poor Robin… my love….. my sweet, sweet Robin…."

Lucina continued to cry uncontrollably on her mother's arm as Sumia ran her finger through her daughter bright, blue hair. Sumia was expecting Lucina to simply admit the two were secret lovers dating, but she never realized the story between the two could be so deep. In a rare moment, even Sumia never felt so lost at sea. This wasn't one of those cliché scenarios she read in her romance books. All her romance novels had happy endings, and this was a real life story that did not end happily ever after.

Thinking carefully about her next move, Sumia looked down at her daughter's face and knew that she had to be there for her. She listened to her daughter's every word carefully. The truth was, she was not even mad that Robin wanted to marry her daughter. Secretly, she actually was sad Lucina did not accept his proposal. They were destined to have a great life together. But she quickly cast those thoughts aside.

"This is going to be a long night", Sumia thought to herself, "But my daughter needs me now more than ever. I will spend all night here with her if I need to."


	4. The Dream

Robin slowly opened his eyes. He scanned his surroundings. All around him, it was just darkness. Perpetual darkness that stretched on without end. Everywhere he glanced, it was just himself standing in a vast expanse of… absolutely nothing. It did not matter which way he stared. Even when the tactician looked up or down, it was the same view: darkness. A world that looked completely erased from existence. A world before Naga created the life and terrain. He was even standing on top of that same darkness as if he was levitating. In Robin's mind, this place does not make any sense. Although he was not well versed in science as well as Miriel, he was pretty sure humans could not float in midair. That does not obey the laws of physics nor the laws of gravity. Only creatures with wings like Pegasus and wyverns could attain flight.

Robin decided that mystery was something he will have to figure out for another time. Maybe Miriel will have an explanation for this. He had more pressing matters right now: how to get out of this world. Thinking back to what Henry has told him about death, Robin first checked to see if he was truly dead. If his memories weren't deceiving him, Henry taught him that people became spirits after they died. That meant they cannot touch nor feel anything. Robin moved his hand over to his other arm and quickly disproved that notion.

"Hmm…. I could still feel myself. That probably means I am still alive. There's probably still hope for me to return to Ylisse. I just have to find out how." Robin thought to himself.

After this epiphany, the tactician attempted to walk in every direction he could possibly imagine, trying to understand how physics in this bizarre world functioned. He quickly figured out he could move in any direction he wanted on the ground. He wanted to see if he could fly up, so he jumped multiple times, but always fell back down to the invisible ground. It seemed just like the world he was accustomed to. However, he quickly discovered there seemed to be invisible barriers all over this place. Robin almost broke his nose walking into one, as the concept of invisible walls did not exist in Ylisse. Using the classic strategy of staying to the left of a wall to figure out a maze, Robin tried to get a mental map of the place. After testing the place for around an hour, he quickly realized the invisible walls made a square, and he was trapped inside.

After determining the fact he was stuck in an invisible prison, Robin began testing the wall. He tried out all his tomes, ranging from fire, thunder, and wind. None of them seemed to have any effect, as the walls just seemingly absorbed the spell and the magic just dissipated in the air.

Next, he tried to see how tall the facade was. Maybe there was a way to climb over the barricade if it was short enough? However, that plan also failed, as Robin could not find a place in the wall where the wall was short enough to climb over. Heck, he didn't even know how tall the invisible wall was. It could stretch up for kilometers.

In a last desperate attempt, he took out his Levin sword and began to slash at the wall. The sword clanged with the barrier, but the barrier still stood. There were no signs the wall was going to collapse anytime soon. Robin also didn't know if he actually did any structural damage to the wall, since it was invisible.

Sitting down, Robin closed his eyes, and for the first time, sat down defeated. He wanted to get out of this bland world and return to Ylisse. He wanted to see the Shepherds again. He wanted to see the future he fought so hard for. Most importantly, he wanted to see his "girlfriend" again.

"But I don't see how! This place doesn't make any sense." He desperately wanted to scream. Never has Robin ever felt so lost at sea before. No matter how bad things were, Robin could always find a solution or escape any situations. Heck, with Robin's quick thinking, the Shepherds successfully escaped Plegia Castle, one of the most guarded places on the continent. However, all of that was no use when he had absolutely no idea how the invisible walls functioned in this world, and how to destroy such obstacles. Even his years of being the grandmaster and tactician of the Shepherds did not prepare him for this situation.

It was starting to get boring after a few days… Was it days? There was no way to even track time. For the most part, Robin gave up trying to escape and just decided to wait for something to happen. After days of waiting monotonously, hearing his name in this blank world of nonexistence was a welcome surprise.

* * *

"Robin…"

"Hmm? I heard my name…"

"Robin, it's me. It's Lucina!"

"Lucina? How are you here? Actually, where are you? Come out already!"

Robin saw a projection of Lucina materialize out of the darkness in front of his face.

"Robin!"

"Lucina!" Robin rushed over to hug Lucina, but his arms just passed right through her. Confused, he asked, "Is this…just an illusion? Is it really you?"

"Yes, it's me. I don't know what is going on, but yes… it's me. Oh, I've missed you so much!"

"I'm happy to see you, too."

"Robin, listen, I… I…"

"Whoa, what's wrong? …Lucina? Did something happen? Is the future not going as well as you'd hoped? Augh, I wish I was back at the castle in person to comfort you! I don't know what to… Please don't cry."

"You're not angry? I tried to kill you after the Fire Emblem got stolen by Validar."

"Huh? Wait, that's still bothering you? I thought we already went over this. I already forgave you because I could understand your view. I mean sure, I was sad you considered killing me. But I'd never get mad at you."

"Why not?"

"Why not? You sure do like putting me on the spot. Didn't we already have a conversation similar to this after that incident?"

"Ha! I suppose we did. You were always so nice to me, while I- While I'm always thinking only of defeating Grima. I'm sorry, Robin…" Lucina's voice began to falter, and Robin could tell something was on her mind from her facial expression, even if she was just an illusion.

"Lucina? What's wrong?"

"I've finally remember why I wanted to see you so much, Robin! I miss you so much. Come back!"

"What? Lucina, trust me, I—I'm hoping that too, but I don't know how! There's an invisible barrier preventing me from going anywhere in this place."

"Even so, you have to figure out a way to return before it will be too late! There will soon be another member in our family."

"Huh? What does that mean?"

"I.. I'm pregnant. I found out about it just before fighting Grima. I never the chance to tell you before you sacrificed yourself."

"No way… You're pregnant?"

"And that's why you must come back—you have family back home… waiting for you."

As surprised as Robin was, he began to process all Lucina has told him. Robin was still confused what she meant by "before it's too late". As Robin began to connect the dots, the truth dawned on him.

"Wait, Lucina… there has to be another reason, and I think figured it out. You're actually.. You're actually worried about what your parents will think about this, aren't you? You wanted to see when I could return and see if we could get married to cover this incident up. Princess Lucina."

"…I am. Heh. I guess my secret's out."

"Ugh, now I'm cringing at what we did back at Valm Castle. Talk about thoughtless! Forgive me, Lucina. But don't worry—I promise I'll come back from the dead. So please promise me in turn that you won't harm—"

"It's kind of you, Robin. But don't worry. I will never harm myself."

"Okay. I'll do everything I can to come back. Please just…be safe. You and your unborn child."

"You too. Please just… come back in one piece."

The image of Lucina suddenly began to become fuzzy. Robin knew that it would probably disappear pretty soon.

"Lucina? Wait. Lucina! Lucina!"

But she was already gone.

As Lucina disappeared, Robin suddenly had a terrible thought. Was Lucina dead? She was just an image, an illusion. Did she die and end up in the afterlife and find a way to communicate with him? She looked the same age as the last time Robin saw her, and it would be a pity if she killed herself just to be with him. Was she one of the "spirits" that Henry told him about? After much thought, he decided that wasn't the case. No, she told me she was waiting for me to come back to Ylisse. But how was she able to visit me here? Is this another one of Henry's dark magic? These thoughts haunted him as Robin realized he was back in the same ethereal plane of darkness, trapped between the walls.

"Great! Now I actually have more pressure to find out how to get out of this wretched place. This was already impossible, but now it just became even more impossible." Robin muttered to himself.

* * *

Lucina slowly opened her eyes. She quickly realized that her meeting with Robin was all a dream. "But that dream seemed so real", she thought to herself. "It was almost like I was actually talking to Robin. How is this possible? And.. I revealed my secret to Robin in my dream. Did that really happen? Or is it just my subconscious playing tricks with me?"

She began to get up from the bed and quickly realized she was in her mother's private bedroom. She was sleeping on her mother's bed. Looking around, she saw her mother and Tiki were sitting in chairs next to the bed talking to each other.

"Uhh…" Lucina managed to mutter out. The last thing she remembered last night was telling her mother about her story with Robin and falling asleep crying in her mother's arms.

Seeing Lucina moving on the bed, Sumia was the first to react.

"Good morning dear. Did you enjoy your conversation with Robin?" Sumia asked cheerfully.

If Lucina wasn't fully awake before, she now became fully awake when she heard her mother asked the question. Panic suddenly rushed throughout her body. How did my mother know I was talking to Robin in my dream? Also that wasn't the real Robin was it? It was just a dream right? Dreams are personal, correct? Was I sleep talking? How much does she know?

"How.. how.. how did you…?"

"Relax, dear. I'll explain everything in detail later. But I will give you the short version of the story. Our friend Lady Tiki used her sacred powers and managed to find Robin. He is currently stuck in what is widely considered to be the gateway between life and death. The good news is most people stuck in that dimension are usually given a second chance at life, so I believe if everything goes well, he will be back in Ylisse soon."

"That's great news." Lucina said happily, "So how exactly did I meet Robin there in my dream?"

"As I was saying, she used some of her power to allow you to talk to him in your sleep. I figured it was probably the least I could do, seeing you were extremely heartbroken about Robin. I know I didn't tell you about this in advance, and I'm sorry if that dream was not what you expected, but I didn't want to ruin the surprise! We can talk about this later. But you should probably go get breakfast. I think all the other Shepherds are all currently eating right now, and you don't want to miss it. The cooks prepared a lavish meal for us. "

"That's kind of you mother, but wait… , so that dream with Robin? Were… Was it..?"

"Was it real? Real in the sense you were able to talk to Robin yes. If you are talking about your physical body then no. Only your subconscious was really there." Tiki explained.

"No.. I meant to ask. Were.. were any of you able to see my dreams?"

"Me? Personally I couldn't." her mother said. "However, Lady Tiki here, as the one with the power for you to meet Robin, could keep track of what was happening in the dream. She told me everything as they occurred."

"Everything?"

"Yes?"

"Even my conversations with Robin?"

"Every last word."


	5. Mother

Lucina's heart almost stopped beating after hearing her mother's last sentence. She almost wanted to believe her ears malfunctioned. That meant her mother not only knew about her secret child with Robin, but also the fact she tried to kill him. That latter incident was something she hoped nobody would ever have to find out. Both Robin and Lucina agreed after that incident it was to stay a secret between the two. There was no telling what the consequences were if the other Shepherds knew. Knowing her mother to be the gossipy type, that information will surely be news by the time dinner comes around with the Shepherds today.

"I have to do damage control." Lucina told herself. "As much as I want to run away, I have to make sure this situation does not become any worse. I will never hear the end of this from the others, especially Tharja, if she finds out I tried to kill her secret lover. Or if she found out Robin and I slept together. She'll probably find out about the latter sooner or later, but I can't let her know I've tried to kill Robin." Thinking about Tharja, Lucina couldn't help but feel sorry for that Plegian dark mage. Tharja tried so hard to win Robin's love and affection, but Robin never loved her back. Instead, he had eyes on Lucina the moment they locked eyes three years ago, trying to stop Emmeryn's assassination. All of Tharja's work was for naught.

To accomplish such a task, Lucina had to make sure her mother and the manakete did not spill the secrets to the others. Getting ready for a long and awkward conversation, Lucina looked up and saw her mother's warm smile. That seems so out of place. She just found out I tried to kill the grand tactician of Ylisse. How could she still be in a happy mood?

Lucina started off by turning her head towards Tiki and saying, "Excuse me, Lady Tiki, I don't mean to be rude, but can you leave me and my mother alone in the room for a while? I want to talk to her about my meeting with Robin. Also, please keep my dreams a secret. I don't want the other Shepherds to know unless it is on my terms."

"Of course! I'm sure you two have a lot to talk about. After all, I wouldn't know what Naga would have said to me had I tried to kill Mar-Mar back in my time. Also, don't worry about me telling the others, I'm pretty tired. I think I will go back to sleep for a while. I'll probably forget about it when I wake up." Tiki gave a wink to Lucina and left.

* * *

As much as Lucina wanted to look at her mother in the face, she was too embarrassed. Lucina simply turned around to face her mother, but kept her head down looking at the floor. Lucina started off her words with:

"Mother. I'm sorry… for everything. But, your smile… and your tone… You're... you're not mad at me?"

"Why would I be mad at you, sweetie?"

"You said you know of my conversation with Robin, correct?"

"Yes. Lady Tiki told me everything."

"Then how can you still be cheerful? I never wanted for you to find out about any of this. I.. I revealed some of my innermost secrets in the conversation, and Tiki told you all of it. So you know… that.. I… I tried to harm Robin. I… did other things with him behind your back. Yet, you... you still have a bright beam on your face as if I have done nothing wrong. I betrayed your trust. I am a terrible daughter."

"Lucina, I don't know the details of why you would kill Robin, and you can tell me later what happened in detail, but I am pretty certain you regret trying to kill your boyfriend. I doubt you would have actually killed him."

"No, I don't regret it. I did it because I was sure he was my father's killer in the future. Validar's control over him proved it. I thought by killing him, the future could be easily averted. I just never went through it because I realized I loved him way too much. I had expected him to fight back, but he… he just openly dropped his weapons and allowed himself to be killed. He… He knew how to manipulate my emotions. I couldn't do it in the end. Also, now that I think about it, killing him would not have actually made a difference, because Grima also followed me back to this time and the Fell Dragon would have been summoned whether or not Robin was alive. I'm.. I'm actually sort of happy I did not kill him, in hindsight. "

"Lucina, that means you regret it. You tried to do it but in the end you realized you could not. Also, you said you were happy you did not kill him in the end. That is a textbook definition of regret. And that already makes you not a 'terrible daughter' to me."

"I'm not so sure. I might have still killed him if he didn't even try to manipulate my feelings."

"I am pretty sure you would have never done it anyways no matter how he reacted. You loved him way too much. It is obvious from your story you told me yesterday. Even though you left that part out, which I don't blame you for, I know in your mind that you secretly wanted to spend the rest of your life with him after everything was over. You couldn't afford to lose him."

"That… that might be true, but I'm still not so sure. I could have just not thought about it and stabbed him with one thrust of my Falchion before he could have done anything."

"Lucina, just don't question how I know about this, but I know. I have way more experience with love than you do, and I know you would have never harmed your boyfriend."

"Okay, I am not sure I understand, and I know love was never my strong suit. Can we move on, Mother? I'd like to believe we never talked about this. It's just so cringe worthy. Also, he's not my boyfriend mother! We're.. we're.. we're just two good friends who happen to enjoy each other's company."

"Really? Perhaps that explains why you two slept together? I know my daughter wouldn't just do that to someone she considers just 'a good friend'. That sounds as believable as Lon'qu overcoming his gynophobia."

Lucina's face turned bright red. She felt as though if she could die from embarrassment. "Yeah, about that... Mother... I'm... I'm sorry about…I can explain…It's not what you think…. Please don't get mad at me."

"You have nothing to be sorry about, Lucina. And quite honestly, there is nothing for you to explain. I will admit I was maybe a little disappointed when I first heard the news from Tiki, but getting mad at you? I would never do such a thing. Thinking back, this is absolutely not your fault. I never taught you about this. After all, both of you were at that age when your hormones run wild, and you wanted to experiment with someone you loved. It was pretty much inevitable something like this was going to occur. I don't know what happened in your future timeline, but I am pretty sure I never talked to you about this because you were still too young when we died."

"No mother, that is not true. I.. I.. know enough about this topic.. to know this is my fault."

"Lucina, where else could you have learned about this? Hearing your stories, survival was your first priority. you only knew about basic survival skills, how to scourge food, and maybe how to fight Risen. I know my husband would never talk to her little daughter about this when she was still a prepubescent girl, and I know I would have probably never said a thing about this either because I did not want to upset your father."

"Mother…as I was saying, I accidentally learned all of this from your best friend Cordelia and Tharja. Cordelia could not stop talking in vivid detail about this from her romance novels. Heck, I think she must have been the one to accidentally teach me everything just because she spent a lot of time talking to herself about the most romantic night she could have in bed with my father. Whenever we went on long marches, she always started daydreaming of my father, and was always talking to herself about Chrom. Even though she was trying to be discrete and say all of it to herself, I could hear her very clearly. She was also super descriptive in her thoughts, no doubt inspired from her favorite novel "Make Him Fall for You in a Fortnight". As for Tharja, she was always following Robin, and she always said under her breath she had all these dark hexes she couldn't wait to try on Robin. I think she was planning on using a hex that forced Robin to fall in love with her and guaranteed her to bear his children. It would then force Robin to stay with her until death. From these two pieces of information, it was pretty easily to connect the dots."

"Uhh... I really need to talk to Cordelia about this if what you just told me is true. Yes, it's accurate that she is obsessed with my husband, even after we married. I just think she should have gotten over it by now. After all, her future daughter is Severa, and I know she is smart enough to figure out that Chrom is not her father. She doesn't have the Brand of the Exalt anywhere on her body. And Tharja. What she wanted to do to Robin was downright abusive and manipulative. I should also have a talk with her about healthy relationships and consent later."

Sumia continued, "But back to our topic: Yes, that is the basic gist of it. But darling, like I said, I am not mad at you. Maybe a little disappointed, but I can't be mad at you even if I tried. This is absolutely not your fault. And even if you knew about the risks, why did you go for it?"

"What do you mean? This is totally my fault. I knew the consequences but yet I was foolish enough to still take a chance with Robin. Also about why I would have taken this chance if I knew the risks. I… I really don't know why. I couldn't really stop myself. I can't really explain why, I'll be honest. Please don't yell at me for not really having a reason."

"Dear, please don't beat yourself up too hard about this. I already told you I am not upset at you. I know it isn't fair that you got stuck with all the repercussions, but please do not blame yourself. If you want somebody to blame, blame me. Blame your parents. Also, Tharja might have talked a lot about a hex that forces someone to fall in love and a hex that guarantees conception, but did you know there was also a hex that prevents conception? You probably didn't know about the existence of that hex because Tharja keeps spending her days trying to force Robin to stay with her. If she had an ounce of respect left for Robin, she should have been talking about the birth control hex instead."

Lucina seemed shock to hear this.

"No, I did not know about the birth control hex, Mother."

"So there you go. You didn't know there was a guaranteed way to prevent this situation because I never taught you. You can clearly blame me for this."

"Oh mother, you don't have to make excuses for me."

"No Lucina, I'm not making excuses for you. I will repeat this again: you were curious, and you are at the age when you wanted to explore yourself. It's a natural tendency to do. Even I am not sure how hormones works, but I know you can ask Miriel for that information if you feel comfortable asking her. I think there was something she either called centripetal force or estrogen in females that increases your hormone output when you see someone you love? She uses so much jargon that I never understand what she is talking about, so I could be wrong about my previous statement. You will have to ask her if you want a better explanation."

"Okay, I might do that later Mother, but I still can't believe you are not even angry with me. I was expecting a literal yelling contest when I heard you found out."

"Lucina, I already told you: I can't even be mad at you even if I wanted to. No matter what you did, I would have probably still loved you the same no matter what. And I am talking about things way worse than actually killing your boyfriend."

"Why?"

"Because I am your mother, Lucina. You will understand when you get older, but as your mother, you are my precious angel. You are perfect in my eyes, and nothing you do will ever convince me otherwise."

"But that does not make any sense mother. If I did something wrong, the other children might forgive me, but they will definitely get angry with me. Heck, I argued a lot with Severa that one time when I…"

"Yes, but does she love you as much as me? I know you don't understand how a parent's love works Lucina. You will probably understand after that child of yours is born, but a parent's love is not the same as your friend's love. But let's just sum it up like this: My love to you is so great that any of your faults could not replace your accomplishments. Look at yourself Lucina, after we died in your time, you managed to stay alive, train the other children how to survive, helped us prevent the apocalyptic future, and actually defeat the Fell Dragon. You lead your friends out of the bleak future and changed their lives for the better. I am very proud of you for all of that Lucina, and that accomplishment holds more weight than any terrible decision you may have made with your boyfriend."

"I guess that makes sense, but it all still seems very strange to me. You should not just say I am perfect just because I am your daughter. Also, for the last time mother, Robin's not my boyfriend. We're just…"

"Well, if I remember correctly from yesterday, you two are not married so I can't call him your husband, but you two love and enjoy each other's company. You two are inseparable, and his loss caused a lot of emotional trauma for you. Both of you probably spent a lot of time secretly together behind our backs and even made a baby together. I say that is more than enough evidence Robin qualifies as your boyfriend."

"No mother. No matter how you try to frame it, he's not my…"

"Look, let's not try to get into an argument about the nuances of lexicon, all right? Just think about what I told you. I think you will agree that he is your boyfriend. I know it's a lot to take in, but I think I have talked long enough. We can talk about this more in detail later. I know you probably have a lot of questions on your mind, but for now, you should really go get some breakfast. After all, I am pretty hungry myself. We can talk afterwards, and I will be happy to help you with any questions you may have. And just remember this Lucina, I know I said this like a minute ago, but I am going to say it again just because it is so important: You're my daughter. Nothing you do will make me get irate at you because of my love for you. I could not have asked for a more perfect daughter. If you told me that my little one year old girl was one day going to be the leader of a group of survivors on a mission to save the world from destruction and actually succeed, I would have probably cried for days just because how proud I am of her."

Sumia took a breath and continued. "What you do with your boyfriend behind my back, I literally could care less. When he comes back, go enjoy that time with him. Enjoy it. Cherish it. I'm sorry you had your childhood and early adolescence stripped away from you by Grima, and I am sorry I cannot give that back to you. However, you have a bright future ahead of you, and you just gave young Lucina the same thing. I can rest happy knowing my daughters will grow up never having to worry about the horrors of war, and I have you to thank for. In a way, you should probably be the one getting mad at me for leaving you in a bleak future. But that doesn't matter right now. Go enjoy the future. You've earned it. Make up the time you lost with your boyfriend when he comes back. I want to make sure you are happy. You should not worry about what others think. You are letting other people's thoughts, especially mine, get to your happiness. You were expecting me to be mad at you because you always think about the bad things you have done. You ignore all the good you have done. Let me just say this: One action out of love for your boyfriend isn't going to negate the fact you and your boyfriend helped save the world. You should be proud of yourself. You should not worry about me or my feelings."

Tears began to fall out of Lucina's eyes. She was still a little upset that her mother still called Robin her boyfriend after insisting it was not the case, but Lucina felt relieved after hearing her mother say she was not angry at her. The conversation went way better than Lucina anticipated. "I am also proud of myself Mother. After all, we did just save the world. But.. It's just… I still feel awkward about all of this. But we can talk later about this. And one last thing mother, can you keep… can you keep what we talked about here and my dream with Robin a secret? I want to reveal this to everybody on my terms if I choose to."

"Well Lucina, they are going to find out sooner or later that you're pregnant. It is probably better if you just got it over with and told everyone."

"No, I meant the fact I tried to kill Robin. I know I will have to tell everybody else about my child sooner or later, but you can't tell anyone about the fact I tried to kill Robin. Especially not my father. I don't know what he would do if he found out his daughter tried to killed the grand tactician of the Ylissian army."

"You got it, darling!"

"Also mother, could you help me when I break to news to my father? I want someone to be there to support me when I tell him. I… I don't think he will be happy to find out his best friend slept with his daughter behind his back."

"Of course honey. Also, I'm sure you could explain to your father about how it was all an accident. He will understand. "

"Oh thank you so much Mother." Lucina walked up and hugged her mother. "This conversation made me feel a lot better about myself. I was so nervous to break the news to you and didn't know how you would react."

"No problem. That's a mother's job, after all."

Lucina and Sumia got up and began walking towards the door. However, before opening the door, Sumia asked her daughter one last question.

"Before we go Lucina, keep this between us okay? Don't tell anyone I asked you this question. But… but… how was the experience with Robin? Did you enjoy it?"

"MOTHER!"

"How did you feel about it? Was it what you expected?"

"MOTHER! STOP IT!"

"I'm just curious. After all, I remember the first time with your father.."

"MOTHER! JUST STOP IT. PLEASE. I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THIS!"

"You don't have to tell me if you feel uncomfortable. Just treat this like this is part of normal 'girl talk' behind all the men's back."

"…"

"Come on, Lucina. Don't be shy. I'm your mother. You can tell me."

"… Let's just say it was a pretty satisfying experience overall. But Mother, we should really get going. We are going to miss breakfast if we talk any longer."

"Yes, let's go."


	6. Dinner

The rest of the day was relatively uneventful. After breakfast, Lucina was unsure what she should be doing, mostly because she never thought she would see the day when Grima was no longer a threat. During her future, she would usually just wake up, scourge for food and water, fight Risen if needed, and try to find a good place to shelter themselves from the Fell Dragon's horrors. Even after she time traveled, there was no time for any happiness. Between Plegia, Valm and Validar, her experiences in this timeline also demanded she be ready to fight at a moments notice. Even during the two years of peace between the Plegia and Valm Wars, there was no time to rest, as attempting to find the gemstones was more important. In fact, she had grown so accustomed to war that she did not even know how to act like a normal princess. Nobody taught her. Even her secret meetings with Robin seemed out of place.

Thus, for most of the day, Lucina would just take a walk around the castle and talk to the other children because she did not know how princesses normally acted. However, the other children wanted to spend more time with their parents and explore the castle, so Lucina and the other children parted ways after a while. Lucina wanted to see if she could help her father, but she was not well versed enough in kingdom politics and country management to know how to help the Exalt. Her mother spent her day talking, comforting, and grooming the Pegasus in the stables. Her younger sister Cynthia was also there helping her mother. Lucina, having no experience in dealing with flying horses, also found herself unable to help.

After that, Lucina did not know what to do, so she started doing what she usually did in her free time: training her sword skills. She unsheathed her Falchion and practiced her sword skills on dummies, but even that came to an end when Sumia saw what she was doing in the sky when she took a pegasus out for a test flight. Sumia immediately forbid her to train out of safety concerns for her unborn child. Lucina tried to argue with her mother saying there could be bigger threats that threaten Ylisse in the future, but her mother was having none of it. She told Lucina that Chrom forbid her to train when she was carrying her, how Lucina should be grateful she did not have a miscarriage during the later parts of the war from risking herself in the battlefield, and how she should just rest and take care of herself. Lucina told her mother she didn't know what else to do. Sumia told her daughter to go to her room to relax or do something that didn't risk herself getting injured, such as watching the sunset on the balcony or reading a book from the Ylissian castle archives. Lucina wasn't about to disobey her mother after the conversation they had in the morning, so she stopped fighting with dummies, sheathed her Falchion and walked towards the castle.

Her mother told her to relax in her room, and Lucina realized she hasn't seen her personal bedroom yet because she slept on her mother's bed yesterday. Chrom ordered guest bedrooms in the castle be allocated to the children, and Lucina had no doubt the other children were happy to have their own room and sleep in their own bed for once. Lucina was also looking forward to her own personal room, now that such luxuries could be used. She found her room and walked inside. Looking at the room, it was nothing too impressive. There was the standard furniture: bed, nightstand, table and chair, closet, and bookshelf. There was also window at the end of the room with a view towards the castle town, but because her bedroom was on one of the bottom floors, there was really not a good view. She spent about 5 minutes in her room before realizing there was nothing to do in her room besides to sleep, so she followed her mother's advice and decided to look at the sunset.

* * *

Lucina grabbed the chair and exited her room. She walked towards the castle balcony and put the chair down near the railings, the exact same place Chrom stood years ago after their victory against Plegia to make the announcement of his wedding. She sat down and admired the view as the sun went down. Looking down at herself, she touched her stomach and smiled softly. The bump was not visible yet, but she could definitely feel her stomach being larger than before. She whispered to her unborn child, "You are so, so lucky to not witness horrors like I have. Even though I never expected to have you, just know I will always be there to care for you. Your father might not be here now, but I know he will come back one day and be so proud to see you. We will do all we can to make sure there is peace in the kingdom so you don't have to relive our childhoods. Just look at the sunset. It's so beautiful. I never saw anything like this when I was young, and I hope you never have to learn why. It is just too depressing."

Lucina continued to idolize the beautiful scenery from the balcony when she suddenly heard her father's voice. "Lucina, dinner is ready. Would you like to join us?" Her father was suddenly standing behind her, stroking her long, blue hair. She didn't know how Chrom found her here, but she wasn't going to question it. Her parents could always find where she was. It was almost like they had magic tomes that lead them to her.

Her father saw what she was looking at and said, "It's beautiful, isn't it. The sunset, and all these people, walking home after a long day of work. Sometimes, I envy these people and think about how nice it would feel to be an ordinary civilian. But whenever I think that, I always change my mind because I wouldn't want to see any of my friends die. I would probably feel powerless if I was one of them. At least as Exalt, I actually have the chance to help them. After all, those people probably wouldn't exist right now if it wasn't for us. You made them see a happy future without them knowing it."

"Yes, Father, it is very beautiful. However back in my time sunsets were not something to look forward to. Risen were more active during nighttime, and if they ambushed us at night, it was really hard to fight them due to the lack of visibility. I was actually just looking at all these people walking near the town center, talking to each other. Just to think, they would have probably all been dead were it not for us. Heck, they probably didn't even know that the dragon flying above us the past month could have killed them all had he had the power to do so."

"Yes." Chrom felt a little sad hearing his daughter's words, but put his emotions aside and continued. "I was sorry to have failed you in your time and wasn't able to stop Grima. That would probably be one of my biggest failures as the ruler of Ylisse if what you said was true. As the Exalt, I had the job of protecting you and my people. I failed you. I failed them. However, because of you, we were able to set things right and actually help them this time. For that, we will always be grateful for you."

"You don't have to apologize, Father. Grima was way too powerful, and I know you will always be grateful for me. But I have to ask Father, would you ever stop being grateful for me if I ever angered you? For whatever reason?"

"I have already told you, I am proud of my little girl for all she has done. I would never get mad at you. But why would you ask that Lucina? Did you do something wrong?"

"No. I… was talking theoretically."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes father. What could I have done? After all, we just got back to the castle yesterday, and I am still adjusting to my new life. I didn't burn the castle down. I was pretty much just talking with my friends and admiring the sunset the entire day. How could I have done something bad in those 24 hours?"

"Sounds reasonable. Well, to answer your question, as long as you don't do something extreme such as massacring innocent civilians or starting another war with other countries, I would never get mad at you. We have had enough wars in the past decade, and I don't want the civilians of Ylisse have to suffer through the horrors of war again."

"Father, you know as well as I do I would never want another war again."

"Of course sweetie. This war talk is making me have bad flashbacks. Let's just go eat dinner all right?"

"This might be easier than I thought." Lucina realized. She has yet to tell her father or the other Shepherds about her pregnancy, and was especially not looking forward to talking to her father about it. Hearing her father's previous statement was definitely a welcoming change. "But I probably should not tell him about this today. He probably had a stressful day catching up on things he missed during our one year absence fighting Valm and Validar. That should be for another day."

As Chrom and Lucina walked down the hallway to the dining hall, she suddenly realized her mother was correct. Her father was bad at reading people's reactions and thoughts. Her mother was insistent that something was wrong after reading her facial expression last night. Of course, she sort of spilled the beans something was wrong, but she couldn't convince her mother otherwise no matter what she said. Her father did not even blink an eye after telling him there was no way she could have done something bad. Chrom would have probably not asked any further questions, unlike Sumia.

* * *

Lucina picked up a plate and filled it with her guilty pleasure food: bear meat. It was one of the few things both Robin and Lucina loved but everybody else hated, especially Frederick and Lissa. Lucina would say it helped them bond, but Robin said they were destined for each other no matter what. She also picked some vegetables like corn, peas, and bread fresh from the oven along with bear meat. Even though food was never in short supply on their marches despite rations, she still could not fathom the amount of food on the table. It seemed endless. If something like this existed in the future, there would have been enough food to feed a town for a month.

Lucina saw her friends sitting in the back of the room at a round table. She sat down next to Inigo and her sister Cynthia.

Immediately after sitting down, Cynthia began telling her older sister about her day helping her mother in the stables. "It was so fun. Seeing my mother feed and care for all these animals made me so happy. Also, Mother also let me fly on one of her most prized pegasus, and she could go so fast. It felt like I could get to Valm in just a day!"

"Sounds like you had a great time today, Cynthia." Lucina said, taking a bite out of the bear meat.

"I think I talked enough about my day. So what's been on your mind lately?" Cynthia asked her elder sister.

"Robin. I just wish he would come back now. I miss him." Lucina said without thinking. Lucina quickly realized what her statement implied and immediately closed her mouth, but the damage was already done. The children all immediately stopped talking to look at Lucina.

Cynthia was the first to break the silence. "Aww. Looks like my big sis here has a crush on the grand tactician of Ylisse."

Lucina's face turned red and immediate blurted out. "I do not. That wasn't what I meant! I just want him to come back because he was so pivotal in helping us defeat Walhart and Grima. He promised us he would be back, and if he comes back, we can celebrate and say that no Shepherds died in the war."

"Yeah right Lucina." Cynthia continued. "You totally have a crush on Robin. Look at your face, it's getting red. You're embarrassed just thinking about it!"

"No, I am not Cynthia." But her words contradicted her actions. Her face grew even redder after saying that statement.

"Yeah, I don't believe you sis. What was the reason why you two always fought together in battle? If you fought at his side once, I would not have blinked an eye. But fighting with him every time in the battlefield, now that's what I call evidence. You are totally in love with him. Admit it."

"No, that was because of his strategy! We figured out that we worked along better in pairs, so we simply fought alongside each other to maximize the effectiveness of our attacks while…"

"Yeah, excuses, excuses." Inigo spoke up. "I have enough experience with girls to know that is not the case."

"Inigo, what would you know about me? You spend so much of your time trying to impress every girl in the world like Virion that you make a fool of yourself and they all end up rejecting you."

"Whoa, that was not a nice thing to say, Lucina. You hurt my feelings."

"I totally agree with Inigo. Even my sword hand can totally see your crush on Robin." Owain blurted out.

The other children all agreed and began teaming up against Lucina. All the children began to tease the princess about her 'crush'.

Lucina, finally unable to take it any longer, lost her temper. It was so unlike her, but for some reason all the children repeating the same "lie" to her face finally made her snap. "NO, I do NOT have a crush on Robin! Leave me along and stop talking about this!" Lucina yelled out, standing up in her chair, unaware of how loud she was. It was almost like she possessed Noire's split personality for a second. The room turned quiet. All chatter in the dining room stopped. Lucina turned around to see all the Shepherds looking at her. Some were shocked, some were trying hard not to laugh, and some showed no emotion. She immediately scanned the room for her mother, and found her sitting with Chrom. She locked eyes with her mother. Sumia had her hand over her face, trying hard not to laugh at what just happened. Sumia immediately tried to look away when she saw her daughter looking at her, but Lucina caught it. Lucina then turned back to face the children to see their reaction. All of them were trying their best not to laugh also.

"No, I did not just do that." Lucina silently cursed herself. She could no longer hide her embarrassment and shame. Lucina immediately began walking away from the dinner table. Even though she barely touched her food and was still hungry, she lost all her appetite after what just happened.

"Wait, Lucina. Don't go. I didn't mean it. I was only teasing you."

"Come back, Lucina!"

"We were just kidding!"

"Sorry if I offended you."

"Lucina.. we're.. we're still friends, right? Please don't get mad at me."

"It wasn't really that funny, Lucina. I wasn't laughing."

Lucina, ignoring the other children's statements, continued walking and exited the dining hall. The Shepherds and the children looked on in shock as Lucina left the dining hall, slamming the door on her way out.


	7. Mother: Part 2

Lucina immediately went to her room and locked the door. She sat down on her bed. She was still angry at herself. How could she have made such an accidental slip of the tongue? Even if she inadvertently managed to tell everybody she missed Robin, she absolutely did not have to overreact. Lucina handled the situation extremely poorly. Looking back, she should have just ignored it and just let the children tease her about it. After she tried to deny the allegations, it actually made things worse. The children became more insistent, and she lost her temper. Everybody in the room heard her deny the malicious rumors in a way that definitely made her look guilty. In fact, her actions "proved" to everybody she did have a "crush" on Robin. The worst part about thissituation was also the fact the truth goes way deeper than just having a simple "crush" on the white-haired tactician.

About half an hour later, there was a light knock on the door. Lucina ignored it at first, believing it was one of the children coming back to make fun of her again. However, as the knocking became a full-force pounding that went on nonstop, she finally yelled out, "Go away. Leave me alone! I don't care who you are: I don't want to see you right now."

"Lucina, dear, I know you are embarrassed, but can we talk about this? Besides, you can't lock yourself up in there forever. You also never finished your dinner!" She heard her mother's voice behind the door.

Normally, Lucina would have loved to talk to her mother about her problem and opened the door without hesitation. After all, she was always there to help. However, because Lucina was still angry at herself, she responded, "Yes I can mother. I can stay in my room as long as I want. And you can feed that dinner to Minerva for all I care. I don't want it."

"Lucina, can you at least open the door? I just want to talk to you."

"No, mother. You don't understand. I made a fool of myself. I can't show my face around my friends ever again."

"Lucina, you are being unreasonable right now. Nobody thinks you are a fool. Can you just open the door? I'm your mother, Lucina, I just want to talk. I am not here to make fun of you; I'm not here to kidnap you. I'm just here to talk."

"Can you just leave me alone?"

"Lucina, I am not going to stop bothering you until you open the door and talk to me."

"No mother, I made my demands loud and clear. I am not opening the door. I have to stay in my room because it's that time of the month for me again. I am not feeling well."

"Lucina, you're not fooling anybody with your excuses. You know those 'times of the month' don't exist when you are pregnant!"

"Yes they do!"

"Lucina, you might be able to get away with that excuse with the other girls, but that statement is not going to fly for me. In fact, even if you weren't pregnant, your 'time of the month' is way off schedule. I know, Lucina."

"Still mother, I am not opening the door. Also, stop talking so loudly outside, you never know if Kellam is using his invisible powers to eavesdrop on us."

"Lucina, there is nobody outside. In fact, there is nobody in the hallway besides myself. Nobody is going to hear us! You are being paranoid."

"Just go away, Mother."

"All right Lucina, you leave me no choice. If you don't open the door after I finishing counting to ten, I am going to tell all the children about your secret conversation with Robin. "

Lucina was silent. She was shocked her mother would think about blackmailing her.

"You're bluffing, Mother."

"Just try me. One."

"…"

"Two."

"Mother, you know I have to tell them eventually. It's really not a big deal if you do it right now."

"I agree, but did you forget about the fact you tried to kill Robin? It's not just you are carrying your boyfriend's child, you know. Three."

"…"

"Four."

"…"

"Five."

"Mother, you're blackmailing me."

"Blackmailing you? Yes, that may be true, but you are being a very unreasonable daughter right now. I just want to talk to you, yet you are making it very hard for me to do so. You left me with no choice but to do this. Six."

"…"

"Seven."

"Mother, you can't. You promised you would keep our conversations a secret unless I chose to reveal it."

"I can. And you never gave me conditions for my promise, so I can break it right now because of your disrespect towards your mother right now. Eight."

"…"

"Nine."

"…"

"Ten. All right too late Lucina, I'm going to tell your friends. I hope you have said your blessing to Naga before your friends..."

"Wait, Mother. Stop it, don't do this to me. I'm opening the door. I'll have a stupid talk with you about my behavior at the dinner table."

"Watch your language young lady. I know my future self did not teach you to use such coarse language towards you parents when you were growing up."

"Okay sorry Mother. I'm coming."

* * *

Lucina walked over to her bedroom door and unlocked it. She quickly let her mother in her room, before quickly closing and locking it again. She also checked her window to make sure nobody was outside her window trying to listen. After that, she began waving her hands in the air, trying to see if Kellam was hiding somewhere in plain sight that she could not see.

"Lucina. You don't have to be so paranoid. Nobody is going to snoop in on our conversation." Her mother stated.

"No, Mother. How can you say that? I've already made a fool of myself back at the dining table. I can't let the other children think any worse of me. Also Mother, I am very angry at you for blackmailing me. You gave me my promise you would not tell anybody, and yet you would use such information to take advantage of me."

"Lucina, calm down, you are overreacting. Yes, I know I might have been a little harsh on you, and it hurt my heart to have to do that to you. I'm sorry I had to threaten you like that, and I would not have done it had there been another choice. I'll make it up to you somehow in the future. You have my word on it. But Lucina, you should listen to me. I have talked to the other children after you left, and although they all said your reaction was funny, they would have never joked about Robin had you acted like this. Nobody thinks badly of you, Lucina. In fact, they told me they were actually scared because you never lose your temper, and it was their first time seeing you get angry."

"No, mother, I am not overreacting. I can never show my face around the Shepherds and my friends anymore. They probably all hate me for what happened. Besides, I basically just told everybody I have a crush on Robin, didn't I? The truth goes way deeper than that, and it probably won't be long until they figure that out."

"Lucina, you are not thinking about this logically. You may not realize this, but you secrecy with Robin is not as discrete as you would like to believe. The rumors have always existed, but you were just never there to hear them. I have asked the other children about what they knew about my daughter and Robin, and they all told me that you two looked like secret lovers. All you did today was maybe just confirm those suspicions. Whatever the children thought about you from before the war will not be much different than right now."

"What… What do you mean, Mother? Robin and I always met in secret. I never told anybody about this before the war was over. We have not done anything out of norm."

"Maybe, maybe so. But your behavior has always changed whenever you were around Robin. I told you this yesterday, but you two were always sneaking glances at each other during dinnertime. You two always managed to 'accidently' meet up with each other at the most unlikely locations. Noire even told me there were times she caught you sneaking into Robin's tent when she was doing night patrol. They all said they noticed you two were always fighting side by side in battle, and although they like to believe that is because our tactician did this for strategic purposes, most of the children did not believe it. They always talked about how you were always so close with them in the future. You always fought alongside them. However, after coming back from the future, they said you seemed more distant towards them as time went on. You let your boyfriend give orders to the other children, and you fought alongside him more times than any of the other children combined. In fact, after your first time fighting alongside Robin, they all noticed you never left his side. If that wasn't suspicious, I don't know what is."

Lucina thought about what her mother said. She already decided she wasn't going to bother correcting her mother about Robin being her boyfriend because it was no use. Processing the information, her mother had a point. It was true Robin and Lucina always fought side by side. It was probably also true that she did not spend as much time as she had hoped after they were reunited with the Shepherds. After the children joined, Robin gave all the children orders. Lucina never gave orders to them anymore. Lucina simply fought by Robin and followed his command. It was probably the correct decision, as Robin was way more skilled in tactics and warfare than she ever was. Although Robin was weaker in combat, she made up for that with her strong sword skills while Robin used his brain. Robin made every battle seem easy, while Lucina struggled at times to keep the other children alive. In some ways, she was relieved when Robin took over, because she had a huge burden off her back. "I guess that night in Valm Castle was probably one way to pay him back for relieve me this pressure." Lucina chuckled to herself.

"How much… how much… do the other people know?" she managed to weakly speak out.

"Honestly? I would say nothing much. They probably don't even know about anything you told me yesterday or this morning. You pretty much just told everybody you had a crush on Robin, but all the children and the Shepherds suspected it. In fact, your father might have been the only one not to know. I told him before coming here that you were just telling a joke, and your father actually bought my pathetic lie. Sometimes I wonder how naïve he can be as he believes almost everything he hears. After all, had Robin been working for Gangrel when they first found him in the plains… Oh.. I better not think about that. Besides that, as long as you don't tell anyone else, I think that's all they will know."

"But you tried to blackmail me mother! Did you forget about what just happened literally five minutes ago? You threatened to tell them everything unless I talked to you!"

"Lucina, I already told you I was sorry about that. And to tell you the truth, I was bluffing. You called me out on it, but you weren't brave enough to truly follow up on your statement. I never could have told them about Robin. But I had to find a way for you to open the door, and I know you would do so if I just threatened you."

"What… Mother, how could you do this to me? What would you have done next had I not opened to door?"

"I'll be honest Lucina, I was ready to give up. If you weren't going to open the door, I was simply going to walk away and try again tomorrow. And Lucina, I told you I never could have broken your promise. Once again Lucina, it was the last resort."

"Do you really mean it this time Mother? Even if you didn't do it, how can I still trust you?"

"You still hold a grudge to your poor mother even after she apologized? How do you think Robin felt when you tried to kill him but then you stopped? He probably had the same feelings you had right now, but he loved you way too much. He was probably quick to forgive you and forget about that entire incident."

"… I never thought about it like that."

"Well, you can think about it like that for now. Just be like your boyfriend and forgive your mother. I had no malicious intent behind my statements."

Lucina went over and gave a small hug to Sumia. "Oh mother, don't worry, I forgive you. There are worse scenarios that could have happened from that incident. I think I also share part of the blame for this too. Mother, I'm sorry about not opening the door for you earlier. I was too upset at myself."

"Lucina, you don't have to apologize to me. I understood your intentions. However, I guess I also had one of those moments where I was getting impatient and had to be a little harsh just to get you to do something."

Lucina let go of her mother from her hug. Her mother began talking again:

"However, we do need to talk about something. I think you do need to tell your father about your relationship with Robin."

"What do you think I should tell him?"

"Well, you should probably tell him everything."

"EVERYTHING?"

"Yes. He's your father. He deserves to know. Well, you can leave out the part where you tried to kill Robin, but everything else."

"I know he told me he was not going to get mad at me no matter what I did earlier today, but he is definitely going to get mad at me when he find out his 'perfect' daughter had slept with his best friend!"

"Lucina, I told you this this morning. You are letting what other people think get in your way of happiness. Also, having such a huge burden on yourself is not good for your health. You should probably just tell him what you told me yesterday: how much you miss Robin, how you two were secretly in love and how you loved seeing each other behind everybody's back. Your father probably doesn't even know a single thing about this. He might be super skilled at running a country and fighting in wars, but when it comes to social interactions, he is as naïve as a Risen. You might want to be careful breaking the news to him, as I know it will be a lot for him to take in. In fact, if you want, you can probably keep the fact you are pregnant to yourself and see how he reacts before you tell him. If he does get angry at you, maybe hold it off for a week at most. In fact, you should just not tell him and just let him process the fact you two were dating first."

"But, I can't tell him myself. I.. I'm too scared to."

"Lucina, you have been in battles all your life. You cannot tell me that talking to your father is scarier than risking your life on the battlefield."

"Yes, I know Mother, but I have been on so many battlefields in my life that it feels like second nature to me. I never had a parent to talk to, and I am afraid of his reaction."

"How about this Lucina? If you are so worried about talking to your father about this, I will tell him myself. You do not have to even come with me, and I will make sure he will not get mad at you. I know of many ways I can soothe him no matter what ill news I tell him. In fact, I think I was the one that finally snapped him out of his misery after Emmeryn's death. You go and finish your dinner. It's still right there where you left it. I told the servants not to touch it. Just finish the food, and I will personally clean up after you are done."

"That's kind of you mother, but I think I should probably be the one to do this. After all, I was the one who got myself in this situation, I should probably be the one to break the news to him."

"No, Lucina, go eat your dinner. Also, I have told all the kids and the other Shepherds not to make fun of you after what just happened. In the meantime, I will talk to your father about this."

"NO. Mother. Wait. Don't tell him yet."

"Something wrong, dear?"

"We'll do it later after I finish up dinner or tomorrow. Like I said, I was the one responsible. I'll have to set this right."

"Of course dear. Just see me when you want to talk to him today or tomorrow and I'll help you get this over with. Go finish your dinner."

"Okay, that would be great mother. But you… you don't have help me with this. I think I could probably tell him alone."

"Lucina, I told you. We were never there for you in the future, and I want to make things right this time. A small request like this, you don't need to feel bad about asking. In fact, I think you will feel more comfortable when you have someone you trust helping you get through this situation."

* * *

Lucina left her room and went back in the dining room to finish her dinner. The dining hall was empty, but her plate of bear meat was still on the table. Although it was cold, she still did not think much of it and ate it down because she was hungry. After all, she has gone through worse periods. Eating cold bear meat could almost be considered a luxury.

After the dinner, she knocked on her mother's room and told her she doesn't plan to tell her father today, but to wait until tomorrow. She walked back into her room, took off her shoes, used the castle's luxurious bathtub for the first time in her life, changed into a short nightgown and laid down on the bed. Try as hard as she could, she found herself suffering from insomnia. Was it because she was afraid of meeting Robin again in her dreams? Was it because she had a bad day? Was it because she would spill more secrets to her mother telepathically in her sleep? Was it because she afraid of her father's reaction? Was it because she didn't know what to do not that the war was over? Lucina was not so sure, and for a long time, all she could do was ponder at these thoughts. It took Lucina a long time after lying down on her bed to finally actually fall asleep.


	8. The Children

Lucina suddenly found herself looking at the plains just outside of Southtown with Chrom and Robin. She had been there a few times herself because she knew how special the place was to her father. However, this time, at this sacred location, Chrom had his Falchion pointed at Robin. Lucina knew Robin must have done something truly abhorrent to upset Chrom, because her father never got enraged at the white haired tactician. In fact, even after Robin's failure to rescue Emmeryn, Chrom did not as much as mutter a single bad word at the man. Robin had taken full responsibility for the failure, yet Chrom treated Robin all the same.

"Chrom? What are you doing?" Robin asked his best friend. Although Lucina could see Chrom with hatred burning in his eyes, Robin seemed as nonchalant as he could. Robin probably believed there was no way Chrom, out of all people, would attempt to murder him.

"Stay where you are, Robin. I have no choice. I must kill you." Chrom exclaimed.

"What?! What madness is this?!"

"You… you slept with my daughter. You… got my daughter pregnant!"

"Chrom! I already said I was sorry! It was an accident."

Lucina could only look on at with trepidation. In her mind, what she was seeing was impossible. There was no way her father would be this overprotective of her. If he was willing to risk her daughter's life in battle, why would he care about what they did behind his back? It was so unlike him. Also, this scenario was like the same time she also tried to kill Robin. No, it was exactly the same scenario. Lucina wanted to intervene and stand between the two to get them to stop fighting, but for some reason, she found herself unable to interfere. All she could do was watch the drama between the two unfold.

"NOOOOOOO. STOP IT YOU TWO!" Lucina screamed, but it was no use. The two could not hear her. They could not even see her. It was almost as if she doesn't exist.

Meanwhile, Chrom continued, his voice still filled with the same disdain towards Robin:

"I was not certain myself, until now… that you were her secret lover. I had trusted you as your best friend. But now, you are nothing to me now. Your end has come!"

"Chrom, wait."

But it was no use. Chrom shouted "Now I'm angry!" and charged at Robin with his Falchion. Robin did not even attempt to dodge or block the hit, and Chrom stabbed Robin straight through the stomach. Even that move was unlike her father's fighting skill. Chrom used slashes instead of stabs as his main method of attack. Lucina began to scream, and the last thing she remembered before everything went black was Robin slumping down to the ground like a ragdoll as he slowly had his life sapped out of him.

* * *

"AHHHHHHHHH!" Lucina screamed and suddenly shot up in her bed. She thrashed in her bedsheets, tangling herself up in a mess. She was also breathing heavily, with her heartbeat beating way faster than normal. Looking around, she did not know what was going on and started panicking. How did she manage to teleport from the outskirts of Southtown to her personal bedroom? It was then she realized it was all a nightmare and nothing actually happened.

"But that dream, it was like the exact same scenario that happened between me and Robin, but with my father instead. He… he actually killed Robin." Lucina thought back in her head. "And all because of my secret love life? This has to be my subconscious playing tricks on me. Father would never kill Robin no matter what he did."

Lucina got off her bed and looked out the window. The sun was beginning to rise on the outskirts of the capital, and Lucina suspected most of the Shepherds and children were all beginning to wake up from their beauty sleep. Although she took a bath last night, she decided she was going to do another one again this morning just to calm herself down from her vision. After all, such luxuries could be afforded now. She took off her nightgown and hopped into a hot bath, soothing herself in the warm water.

In the bathtub, Lucina was still reeling about what she saw in her dreams. Although Miriel assured her that dreams were not prophecies and that nightmares were just people's mind playing with their worst fears, Lucina was still paranoid her father would do such a thing. Miriel probably did not consider Tiki's powers to allow people to see the future or communicate with others in their sleep. After all, she does not know about Tiki's magical powers until she met her and only came to conclusions based on her experiments.

Sitting in the warm water, she realized she was going to have to be there when Robin gets revived. If everything in the dream was correct, Chrom was going to kill her "boyfriend" the moment he comes back. Although she felt the chance Chrom would actually hurt Robin was infinitesimal, she already decided she was not going to lose Robin again. Losing him once was already painful enough. There will probably a way to reason with her father, and if things actually got out of hand, she will simply have to step in between the two and protect Robin. There is no other way.

After spending around half an hour in the soothing warm water, Lucina got out and began to get dressed for the day. Looking at the location of the sun, the blue haired princess decided it was probably time to get up and go eat breakfast. Lucina exited her room and began to walk towards the dining hall. Instantly, she began to think about what she was going to say to the other children. She was so worried about Robin that she forgot about the incident last night. However, turning around the corner, she saw all the children standing in the hallway, blocking the path, waiting for her.

Lucina was caught off guard. She knew she would have to explain herself soon or later for last night, but she had not expected all of them to be waiting for her. Immediately, Lucina turned around and thought about going a longer way to get to her destination. She began walking in the opposite direction. However, before she could even take her third step, dandelion petals started appearing in front of her face, and when she realized what was going on, it was already too late. Her younger sister made one of her 'dramatic entrances', and Cynthia appeared in front of Lucina and blocked her way to the dining hall. Lucina did not even know where her younger sister was hiding before she revealed herself, but she had no time to worry about such details now. By the looks of it, the children had this all planned out, and Cynthia's entrance was the backup plan in case Lucina tried to run. Lucina immediately attempted to sidestep Cynthia but she predicted her older sister's movement and stepped where she attempted to escape. Looking behind her with all the children blocking the other side of the hallway, Lucina knew the children trapped her.

"Cynthia, get out of my way! I am not in a good mood right now."

Cynthia, however, expected this reaction. She instead reached out to hug her sister. As her arms wrapped around her sister, Cynthia somehow found herself having a harder time hugging Lucina for some reason. Was it because she gained weight because food is actually abundant in this timeline? Cynthia wanted to ask her older sister if she had gotten fatter, but decided there was more important stuff to talk about. Instead, she started out with:

"Lucina, I am so sorry for teasing you about your crush on Robin. If I knew how you were going to react, we would have never said such things. Also, we will stop and admit you don't have a crush on Robin, okay?"

All the other children behind her also repeated the same statement, apologizing for their earlier behavior.

Lucina's had to smile at Cynthia and her friends for their warm reaction. She even forgot she was mad at her sister just a few seconds ago. "Thanks for the kind words, but this was partially my fault too. Also, you don't have to lie about Robin. What you said…. is probably true. In fact, too true."

"No, Lucina, we may have just pushed the joke too far for you. If you loved Robin that much, you two would have surely already been married during the war. After all, that's what most of our parents did during the war. Just because you two fought together a lot in battles doesn't mean you liked him. He probably was just concerned for your safety and wanted you nearby."

"Cynthia, I already told you. You don't have to lie to me to make me feel comfortable. I… What you said at the dinner table was pretty much true. I can't deny it. The only reason I overreacted was because I thought nobody knew. I was angrier at the fact that everybody knew about something I thought was a secret."

"So… you do actually like Robin?"

Lucina stopped to think about the question. She decided she tried to hide this relationship for far too long, and it would probably just be better if she actually told everybody. That would probably let a big burden off her back.

"Yes. I do. In fact, very much. We were almost like a married couple. That was how strong the romance between us was. He even asked me to marry him. Of course, I had to hide it from my parents so I couldn't just agree. However, my mother found out about it because I was so sad he sacrificed himself. Now that I think about it, there was probably no reason to hide it. My mother actually did not mind and was actually happy I had a 'boyfriend'. I am sorry I mislead you about this. Thinking back, I'm sorry I grew a little distant from all you. You have all helped me in the future, but when we reunited, I… I know I fought with Robin every battle. I let him give the orders for you. I'm sorry for abandoning all of you. But it just felt so good to be relieved of being a leader. I… I was never that good of a war leader. Robin… Robin did a way better job than I ever could, and I knew you were all in safe hands under his command. Now that he is gone, I feel like a part of me died, and I couldn't tell anybody." Lucina started tearing up after finishing her last sentence, once again grateful for Robin's promise: all the Shepherds were going to come out of this war alive.

All the other children stared at her. Lucina had almost afraid she made a mistake admitting her love for Robin. However, the children were sympathetic and immediately rushed over for a group hug with Lucina, except Severa, who chose to watch from a distance. It lasted only a minute, but to Lucina, seeing the warm reaction from her friends made her feel like an hour has passed. After they separated, all of them began to form a circle and discussed about what to do. They all decided they were going to comfort Lucina and say something nice about Robin. Severa was the only one who objected, but because the majority of the children agreed, she was ruled out.

Cynthia started first. "Oh sis, you didn't have to hide all those emotions. We could have all helped you! Because of that, we have all decided to say something nice about him to cheer you up. I guess I will go first. I just want to tell you not to worry about Robin. I know he will come back. He will definitely come back with a dramatic flower petal entrance like a hero!"

"That's nice of you Cynthia. Thanks for the kind words."

Her cousin Owain was next. "Oh Lucina. Heed not what others say of you. Believe in yourself. Believe in your emotions. Don't hide it. Your amorous love will be the most a mammoth, significant chapter in the bulkiest Ylissian plays."

"Oh Owain, you flatter me with your descriptive metaphors."

Inigo continued, "Lucina. I'm sorry about that at the dinner table. I know it must be hard when your love is gone, but you're not going to die alone. He will be back. I know it."

"Thanks Inigo. Also, I hope you forgive me for what I said to you yesterday at the dinner table. I hope I didn't hurt your feelings."

"No Lucina, I just want to see you happy. You did not actually hurt my feelings that much. After all, I am pretty used to having my feelings hurt, as all the girls I talk to reject me."

Brady was next, "Robin ain't dead, Lucina. I've gotta say I do like that ol' tactician, so I feel ya, girl! Don't lose hope, he gonna be back soon."

"Thanks Brady, I know he will be back."

Kjelle was next, "Lucina. I might not know as much as love as others, but stay strong. Robin will be back. Naga simply put him on a trial to see how strong his bonds are. Also, I would have never been mad at you for letting Robin make our decisions. I could see you were relieved. I'm just happy you found your love."

"Thanks, Kjelle. Sometimes you should probably just not take things too seriously and try to relax. Maybe you can understand the feeling of love then."

Gerome continued where the other children left off. "Lucina, although I disagreed with you on a lot of things such as choosing to interact with our parents in this timeline, I do have to say you have changed my mind on altering fate. If you could do it, so can Robin."

"Thanks for the kind words Gerome. And yes, I didn't want to intervene either in this timeline unless it was absolutely necessary, but I had no choice in the end."

Yarne was up "Robin… He ensured my species did not become extinct. For that I will always be grateful for. He has done so much to keep me safe in battle, and I hope one day I will see him again. You have my sympathy. Robin… is a heroic man."

"Of course Yarne, glad to hear that. We will make sure the taguels will not go extinct. I know my father has sworn to protect you, your family, and the remaining survivors of your species to the best of his ability."

Laurent stepped up "Lucina, I hypothesize the plausibility of Robin's reinstatement will arrive expeditely. May you envision him posthaste."

"I have no idea what you just said, Laurent, but thank you."

Noire was next "Lucina… I… I… I do think you and Robin look cute together. May he'll come back soon. Also, please don't harm yourself. Okay? P.p.p..please, Lucina. We'll be there for you."

"Noire, I would never harm myself. I will always be here."

Nah was the second to last, and she said, "Lucina, as a manakete, I can definitely sympathize with you. My mother has seen too many of her loved ones die, and I can see when her heartbreaks. Lucina, stay strong!"

"Aww. Thanks, Nah. You are all making me cry right now."

Lucina actually had tears in her eyes. The children's reactions were way better than what she had expected. Looking back, she probably did overreact. Maybe a little too much. The children were all accepting of her secret love life. Lucina realized that Severa was the last one who did not give a statement, so she searched the crowd for Severa. She was standing with a grumpy face, and her arms crossed in front of her. Lucina did not understand what she was upset about, but she decided to ask her anyway. "Severa, you're the only person who has not shared their opinion on Robin. Do you have something to say?"

"Lucina, I'll never forgive you for that. You… in love with Robin? I suspected as much, but no. It's unacceptable. I will not say anything about him."

Everybody gasped in shock at her statement. Even Lucina was surprised to hear such a statement. After hearing so much support, Severa's cold remark was something unexpected. "Severa? Is something wrong?"

"Of course something is wrong Lucina! You falling in love with Robin! What is this nonsense? Besides, does he even love you back?"

"Well, yeah, Severa, the feeling is mutual. It's not nonsense because of what Robin has done for me and for all of us. I mean if you think about it…"

"Are you stupid? What has Robin ever done for us? He's gotten himself killed in the most asinine way!"

"Severa, please calm down. This is not something for us to argue about…"

"You just think you are the only one suffering right now, aren't you? Have you ever thought about your poor old friends? You abandoned them for your secret lover. In fact, you've probably seduced and slept with him. Also, you're probably the reason he is dead right now! He probably felt so guilty for becoming Grima in our future that he sacrificed himself out of guilt just for you!"

"Severa! This is not true. I would never seduce Robin. Also, why would you say I was the deciding factor for why he sacrificed himself? You should know how hard it was on me after he did that."

"Gosh, you think you are so oppressed, Lucina. You are not a victim. I am going to walk away from this conversation. You can come apologize to me when you are thinking more clearly!"

Severa stormed away in the opposite direction and walked into her room. She slammed the door shut, cursing Lucina and her superficial 'love' for the tactician.

Lucina looked around at her friends. All of them were just as shocked as she was. Laurent showed no emotions, but then again, that was normal of him.

"Don't listen to her sis" Cynthia finally said, breaking the silence. "She doesn't mean what she says. I think she's just jealous you have a boyfriend and she does not. Come on, just ignore her, let's all get breakfast and enjoy the beautiful day today. After all, we no longer need to worry about Grima anymore."

Lucina agreed with her younger sister and all of them began walking towards the dining hall except Severa. However, on the way, she couldn't help but wonder what Severa had said. Did she know the truth? Or was that just one lucky guess? The part about sleeping was Robin was actually true, but she wouldn't exactly say she seduced Robin. If Severa defined seduction very loosely, anything Lucina did to entice Robin was just seducing him. She knew her good looks, with her beautiful face and cerulean hair falling down her back made her very attractive to Robin. That would be seduction to Severa. Also, how could she think I was the reason Robin sacrificed himself? What kind of a person does she think I am? Lucina shook her head and tried to forget her words. After all, Severa always had a very harsh personality, and she probably just said such statements out of spite.

"Now onto breakfast. And after that the talk with my father. I'll worry about Severa later." Lucina grumbled as she realized she had a long day ahead of her. She sent a silent prayer to Naga, hoping her father would not act like she imagined he would in her nightmare.


	9. Breakfast

Lucina and the other children walked into the dining hall. Wandering inside, they found all the Shepherds seated on their side of the dining room eating their breakfast while listening to Chrom talk about the future of Ylisse. Hearing the door open and the commotion of the children entering the dining hall, Chrom immediately stopped what he was saying to look at the intruders. Chrom then stood up and said, "Oh perfect, you are all just in time, we were just talking about my plans for the future of Ylisse and what is going to happen to the Shepherds now that the wars are over. Are all the children here? I think everybody should be here to listen to what I have to say. I know I never gave anybody a notice for this talk, but since I think everybody is here, we should get this over with."

Lucina was the first to respond, "No father, Severa is currently not with us right now."

Chrom replied, "Okay, Lucina, could be please get her to come to the dining hall?"

Lucina was less than enthusiastic to talk to Severa after the fight they just had. However, she could not reject her father's request because she did not want her father to know they argued earlier. Lucina agreed and told her father she will go fetch her.

After Lucina left, Chrom told all the other children to take a seat and get some food, and that he will talk while they are eating. Had Chrom looked more carefully, he would have seen the children were actually concerned about his request to send Lucina to fetch Severa. However, due to Chrom's lack of social experience, he did not see the worry in the children's eyes. Nobody wanted to interrupt Chrom while he continued his speech, so the children simply obeyed Chrom's request and began to grab plates for breakfast. Was it even possible for Lucina to even get Severa to the breakfast table? Lucina wasn't the type of person to apologize for something so miniscule and especially for something she did not do, and Severa is unlikely to nudge until she either got what she wanted or had somebody else besides Lucina fetch her. Knowing Severa, she would simply refuse Chrom's request on the grounds that Lucina was the one telling her the news.

Meanwhile, Lucina despondently walked towards Severa's room. She nervously knocked on her door. Severa opened the door and Lucina could immediately see the rage in her eyes as soon as she saw who interrupted her.

"What do you want, Lucina? Have you come here to apologize?"

"No, my father has requested your presence…."

"Lucina, I told you not to talk to me until you apologize. Until then, you can just bug off!"

Severa slammed the door shut. Lucina knew that Severa did not have an outgoing personality, but even she had not expected such a hostile reaction. Lucina felt like that reaction went too far. She knocked on the door and tried again. After there was no response, Lucina finally said:

"Severa. I'm just here to tell you we are having a meeting in the dining hall. My father has requested for you to come join us for a talk. You can get mad at me for all you want, but could you at least respect my father's wish?"

"Lucina. I told you to go away unless you are apologizing to me."

"But I just told you we had a meeting! You presence is needed right now."

"Are you deaf Lucina? I already told you I am not moving until you just admit to me you seduced Robin, went to bed with him, and out of guilt for you, your past, and your future, he sacrificed himself for you. Lucina, I don't know how stupid you think I am, but I am not budging until you apologize or admit that you were wrong. You are part of the reason he died."

"And Severa I told you also, your malicious statements are false. I am not going to apologize for something I did not do."

"Then you can forget about Chrom and your stupid meeting."

"Severa, can you put aside our differences for just one minute and come to the dining hall? I would have never asked this of you after what happened if it wasn't for my father's request."

"Only if you apologize to me."

"No deal."

"Then go away and stop bothering me."

In a last resort, Lucina tried to think of a way to blackmail Severa just like her mother did yesterday. However, she should could not think of a single incident to threaten her with, so Lucina gave up and started heading back to the dining hall. She immediately walked in and saw her friends already eating their breakfast while listening to Chrom talk about the future. Chrom once again saw her daughter enter the dining hall and stopped his speech. "Ahh. Perfect, Lucina. Thanks for getting Severa for me..." Chrom did not see Severa with his daughter and asked, "Wait. Lucina, I thought I told you to get Severa for me. Why isn't she here?"

Lucina looked down at the floor and quietly said, "Se…. had a fi….. all…. Why she… whe …en.. all…mat..said."

"Could you speak up please? I can't hear you."

Lucina raised head and her voice. She said in a much clearer tone, "Severa and I had a fight today before we came into the dining hall. That's why she wasn't with us when we entered the dining hall the first time. She was still mad at me and would not come to the dining hall no matter what I said."

Chrom was surprised to hear such a statement from her daughter. As far as he knew, his daughter was on good terms with all the Shepherds and the children. In fact, Lucina was close with all the children because they looked up to her as a leader in the future. Hearing a fight between Lucina and Severa was something he had not expected, and he sighed under his breath. Chrom admitted something like this was going to happen sooner or later now that the war was over and the children had no purpose to be united anymore, but did not expected it to happen the week they came back to the castle. He asked, "What were you two fighting about?"

Lucina simply said, "That is our business."

"Lucina, I am your father. If you are not getting along with somebody, don't you think I should also know of this so we can get the problem resolved? After all, I don't believe you two staying mad at each other forever is going to help. I know you two were close before, and I don't want you to lose a friend over an argument."

"We had a fight because we disagreed on something."

Chrom said, "Lucina, that is extremely vague. You literally told me nothing. Can you just explain in detail what you two were fighting about?"

Lucina did not know how long she could still dodge the question. There was no way she was telling her father about what they were arguing about. Although she could probably get her father to believe Severa was spreading malicious lies about her, part of her accusations were true, and there was concrete proof for it. Although Lucina knew she would have to eventually tell her father, she did not want to say it in front of all the Shepherds and the children. Instead, Lucina simply thought of ways to delay the question and simply replied with:

"Okay, Father, can we talk about this later privately? I don't want anybody else to know about this. Also, can I just go get some breakfast now? I am quite hungry."

Chrom gave up and said, "Okay, Lucina, we can talk about this later in my office." Chrom scanned the room for Severa's mother, and upon seeing her, said, "Cordelia, could you go fetch your daughters for me please? I think you might have better luck talking to her than my daughter."

Cordelia blushed and replied with a simple, "Leave it to me, Captain!" Cordelia immediately left the room.

Lucina walked over to the food counter and grabbed some bread, a bowl of broth, a glass of milk, eggs, and sausage. She sat down with the other children and listened to her father's speech. He changed topic and began talking about his plans to rebuild relations with Plegia as the first step to preventing war from occurring in the future. In the middle of eating her food, Severa and Cordelia walked in the room. Chrom stopped his conversation once again to welcome the new visitor and said,

"Severa. It's good to have you to join us here for a little talk for breakfast. I heard you and Lucina are currently not on good terms right now. I have to know, what were you and Lucina arguing about?"

There was a moment of silence around the room. Lucina covered her face with her hands and sent a silent prayer to Naga that Severa would keep her dirty mouth shut. However, it was no use, and Severa began to tell Chrom about everything that just happened this morning.

"Your daughter is in love with your tactician. You know, the one that just sacrificed himself about two weeks ago trying to kill Grima? You remember the outrage she had yesterday at dinner when she stormed out of the room? Well, it turns out your daughter does have a crush on him. In fact, I'd say too much. She's probably more obsessed with him than Tharja is at this point. I'd say she even seduced him with her beauty and slept with him. Some daughter you have, with a complete lack of morals. As if that wasn't bad enough, I think Robin sacrificed himself out of guilt for his lover. Robin probably felt too guilty about all the crimes he did in our future when he became Grima, so he just sacrificed himself as an apology to her. There was definitely a way for him to survive the battle with Grima, but he did not take it. It is just too big of a coincidence that he was the only Shepherd to die after all our battles."

The entire room was silent after hearing such a statement. All the Shepherds looked at Lucina. She did a quick glance towards the children, and although she could see their sympathy in their eyes, Lucina knew there was nothing they could do to help her now. Lucina glanced away and stared at Severa. If Lucina was upset yesterday, that was nothing compared to the rage she was feeling now at Severa. Lucina immediately got out of her seat and walked towards Severa with a feeling she did not know she possessed: pure hatred. In fact, her original plan was to punch Severa so hard that she would walk funny for the rest of her life. However, she managed to calm herself down a little when she realized everybody would have seen her beat up Severa. It would just ruin her reputation even more. Instead, Lucina got in front of her face and yelled out loud, "WHAT IN NAGA'S NAME DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING, SEVERA? TRYING TO RUIN MY REPUTATION WITH SLANDER? ARE YOU INSANE?"

Severa did not even see Lucina's anger. She simply exclaimed back with, "LUCINA, WHY ARE YOU MAD AT ME? IF YOU DIDN'T WANT PEOPLE FINDING OUT THE TRUTH, MAYBE YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE SEDUCED HIM."

"SEVERA, WOULD YOU LIKE IT IF I TOLD EVERYBODY RIGHT NOW YOU MOST INNERMOST SECRETS OR TRIED TO RUIN MY REPUTATION WITH LIES? YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE SAYING IS NOT TRUE. MAYBE I SHOULD TELL MY FATHER ABOUT HOW YOU… HOW YOU… I DON'T KNOW… I'LL FIND SOMETHING EMBARRASSING ABOUT YOU AND TELL IT TO EVERYBODY. SEE HOW YOU LIKE IT!"

Cordelia was standing next to the two children when they started arguing and tried to break up the fight. She stepped in between the two and said, "Girls. Stop it. Now's not the time to argue about this." Chrom was also yelling at the two to stop fighting as all the Shepherds and children looked on in amusement. After all, the Shepherds have not had any drama since before the war when the world was at peace. Everybody was so serious during wartime, and arguments regarding relationships were nonexistent. In fact, now that the war was over, some of the Shepherds were watching the fight like a comedic play as they saw the drama between the two unfold.

Both Lucina and Severa ignored their parents and simply walked out of Cordelia's view to continue the argument. Even Chrom's complaints did not do a thing.

Severa responded back to Lucina's statement. "THAT'S BECAUSE I HAVE NOTHING SCANDALOUS TO HAPPEN TO ME. IF YOU DIDN'T WANT ME TO BE A TATTLETALE, YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED AWAY FROM ROBIN."

"ALSO SEVERA, HOW COULD YOU HAVE JUST TOLD EVERYBODY? YOU ALSO KNOW THAT IS NOT TRUE. LOVING SOMEONE DOESN'T MEAN SEDUCING SOMEONE. ALSO, YOU COULD HAVE KEPT YOUR DIRTY MOUTH SHUT AND TOLD THEM SOMETHING ELSE, LIKE GETTING MAD AT ME FOR SPILLING YOUR TEA ON YOUR FAVORITE DRESS."

"OH, YOU NOW THINK THAT I SHOULD LIE TO COVER UP YOUR LIE? YOU ADMIT THE TRUTH NOW? HOW IRONIC!"

Chrom walked behind his daughter and grabbed her hand. Even though she tried to struggle, Chrom's iron fist held her back. She dragged her daughter back away from Severa's face while Cordelia stood in front of Severa to prevent the two from fighting further.

Chrom began with a simple, "Lucina, I am disappointed in you. I can't believe you and Severa would have a fight over Robin. He would be rolling in his grave right now if he heard what just happened, assuming he is not coming back. And at the dining hall no less. We will talk about this later after breakfast."

Chrom looked at Severa's mother and said, "Lady Cordelia, would you and Severa please join me after breakfast today with me and my daughter? I think we need to have a talk about what happened."

"Yes of course, Captain."

Chrom let go of Lucina and said, "Good. Now Lucina, I don't want to see any fights between the two of you again. I thought your behavior was better than this. "

Lucina felt ashamed and responded with a simple, "Yes father. I am sorry father, but Severa was spreading false rumors about me. I hope you can see through her lies."

Severa immediately fired back, "Lies? You're the one lying. You're just afraid of the truth."

"GIRLS!" Chrom and Cordelia both simultaneously yelled out.

Severa and Lucina both became quiet again and looked down at the floor in shame.

"Okay, Lady Cordelia, I think you should escort your daughter out of here until we have our talk later. I will update you two later on what happened in my speech. I don't think we can have two seconds with these two girls seeing each other before it devolves into a fight. Also, tell Severa to grab a plate for breakfast before she leaves. I don't want her to go hungry."

"Certainly, Captain Chrom."

Cordelia and Severa walked over to the breakfast table. Lucina watched as Severa began piling her plate with food.

Lucina turned her face back towards her father. She said, "Father. I… I can explain."

Chrom told her daughter, "I'm sure you can Lucina, but for now, go eat your breakfast and just forget this happened. Like I said, we will talk about this later with Severa after breakfast. Now go back to eating while I finish up my speech to the Shepherds. And if I don't want to catch you two fighting again. Don't make me regret my words yesterday when I said I was not going to get mad at you no matter what you did."

Lucina walked back to her table as Chrom went back to his seat to finish his speech. Lucina did not pay any attention to her father. For the second time in a week, she lost her temper. She simply sat down and tried to look as emotionless as she could. The other children began to whisper something towards Lucina, but she could not understand what they were saying because Chrom's charismatic voice drowned out all the whispers. Chrom, seeing the distraction at the kid's table, once again had to go off on a tangent and say, "Children, I know you want to talk to my daughter right now, but could you wait until I finish my speech? After all, you now have all the time in the world now that Grima has been slain, and my speech about the future of this country is very important."

All the children went back to eating breakfast as her father finished off his speech about his five year plan to repair the country from the devastating wars and move on to the future. Chrom told all the Shepherds they were dismissed and assigned each Shepherd tasks for the day. After Chrom finished his list, everybody started talking about what just happened between Lucina and Severa. Immediately the noise of rumors permeated throughout the air.

"So Lucina is in love with Robin?"

"She doesn't seem like the type of person to seduce anybody."

"She's slept with Robin?"

Lucina ignored all the conversations. Now that Chrom finished his speech, all the children were all trying to comfort Lucina by saying Severa was slandering her reputation and Lucina should not listen to what she said. However, Chrom walked over to the table where all the children were and said:

"All right everybody, I am sure you all have a lot you want to say to my daughter, but right now, I feel like I should be the one trying to find out all the facts before we make any conclusions. I don't want to hear any more rumors, true or false, from any of you. You are all excused. Since we don't have to fight in a war anymore, I guess just enjoy your new future. Explore the castle. Play tag in the courtyard. Do whatever. You can talk to her later after I am done with her."

All the children began to also exit the dining hall unwillingly. Noire told her "Good luck" when she walked by Lucina.

After all the Shepherds and children left the dining hall, Lucina looked back at her father. It was going to be another long day, Lucina realized.


	10. Chrom

After all the Shepherds and the children left, Lucina looked at her father, anticipating his first words. She was expecting him to start chastising her about her actions. However, Chrom simply told her to go to his private office and that he will meet her there after he fetched Cordelia and Severa. There was little emotion in his words, so Lucina could not tell exactly what his thoughts on the matter were.

The two left the dining hall. Chrom walked in the opposite direction to find Severa and her mother. Lucina was absolutely certain she needed her mother's help in this scenario, so instead of going straight to her father's office like she was told, she went straight to the stables to look for her mother. However, Lucina did not find her mother there. She did a cursory of the building, but upon finding it devoid of human life, ran back to the castle and tried her room. Sumia was not there either. Lucina realized she should probably not keep her father waiting and just decided to head up to her father's office like she was told. She entered the room.

Chrom was sitting behind his desk on a comfortable chair. Cordelia and Severa were sitting in chairs in front of Chrom's table. By the looks of it, they had been waiting for Lucina for quite some time.

"Lucina, glad to see you're here. Come join us." Her father said upon seeing her daughter enter the room.

Lucina took an empty chair near the wall and brought it in front of her father's desk. She sat down and prepared herself for a long conversation.

Chrom started off with a simple, "Lucina, Severa. I don't know the facts of exactly what happened, so I think it would be better if I talked to the two of you one of at time. I think I will start with you first, Lucina. Severa and Cordelia, can you please step out of the room so my daughter and I can have a conversation telling her side of the story? I will definitely listen to your side after I am done with her."

Severa and Cordelia got up and left Chrom's office.

Chrom looked at his daughter and said, "All right Lucina. Tell me exactly everything that has happened. Why were you and Severa fighting?"

"Well, I guess you could say it started yesterday at the dinner table. You probably saw me storm out of the room after losing my temper."

"Yes I saw that. But I think Sumia went and checked on you. She told me explicitly not to be there for you yesterday, which I found weird. I didn't question her because I thought you were probably going to have one of your "girl talks". But what does this have to do with Severa and you fighting?"

"Well, I accidentally told all the children I missed Robin and I wished he would come back. All the children were treating it as if I had a crush on Robin and would not stop teasing me about it. That was why I got mad yesterday."

"Lucina, I told you this and I will tell you again. Try to lighten up a bit and attempt to understand what jokes are. The children didn't mean any harm, and you should not have overreacted."

"Yes I know father. I'm sorry father."

"Okay, and another thing, do you actually have a crush on Robin?"

Lucina looked ashamed and did not want to answer the question. She stayed silent and let her lack of response be her remark.

"It's okay Lucina. I am not going to get mad at you if you do. I am pretty sure every Shepherd has a crush on someone the opposite sex. I would be a hypocrite if I said I didn't have a crush on your mother before we married."

"Yes, I might have a little crush on him. But it's more like I want to help him. After all, he was in charge of all our military operations, and only I knew the dangers had Grima succeeded. I wanted to abet him to the best of my ability to make sure we won in the end. I fought with him in battle to make sure he was always safe. I helped him with minor tasks I could handle to lessen his stress. I also sort of helped him late at night when everybody was asleep."

"Okay that's reasonable Lucina. So what happened next?"

"Well, all the children cornered me as I walked down the hallway to get breakfast. They started apologizing to me, but I just told them I did have a little crush on Robin because I really did not want ill rumors about myself. It was also the truth. All the children were accepting of this except Severa. She actually got mad at me, accused me of seducing Robin, and a bunch of other horrible crimes. She even implied that I was responsible for Robin's death. That's how we got into an argument before breakfast today, and why we fought in the dining hall." Lucina left out the part where Severa accused her of sleeping with Robin.

"Lucina, there was absolutely no way you were responsible for Robin's death in any way, shape, or form. He sacrificed himself on his own freewill. What was Severa's justification?"

"You will have to ask her about that. I have no idea what her motivations are."

"Okay, and you did not entrap Robin right?"

"No father, I would never do such a thing. After all, the Fell Dragon was still a threat. I had no time trying to get him to fall in love with me. If I were to do anything like that, it would have to be after the war was over."

"Okay, thank you Lucina. You are free to go. Tell Severa and Cordelia to come in here and wait outside. I guess I will hear their side of the story now."

"Understood, Father."

Lucina left the room and closed the door. She found the two sitting on a bench outside Chrom's office and told them that Chrom will now listen to their side of the story. Cordelia and Severa entered the room and closed the door. Lucina, curious about what is going on, stayed close to the door to snoop. She heard her father's voice again, and the conversation between the two started.

"Good. Now Severa, do you feel comfortable having your mother listening to what you have to say?"

"No. I do not. She should probably hear what I have to say, anyways. I tell the truth."

"Okay, then you may begin."

Severa began the story the exact same way Lucina did.

"Yesterday, I wasn't exactly sure how it started because I was too busy talking too Gerome about something, but the first thing I remember hearing was Cynthia teasing Lucina because she thought Lucina had a crush on Robin. I had long suspected such a thing to be true, but I never had the courage to ask her or talk to the other children about it. However, after Cynthia brought up this point somehow, all the children seemed to agree with her statement. We all began teasing her about her 'crush' on Robin. You know the rest of the story that night."

"Yes, that is true, my daughter basically said the same thing. So just so I understand, you do believe my daughter has a crush on Robin, correct?" Although Chrom knew the answer to the question, he just wanted to see Severa's view.

"Isn't it obvious? Ever since she came back to this timeline, she has barely spent any time with the other children anymore. They are always doing their own stuff. They fight in pairs every battle. Robin claimed it was for strategic purposes, but I know that was just a pathetic excuse for him to spend more time with your daughter."

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind. Continue."

"Anyways, I long had my suspicions about her love for Robin, and I would say her actions last night confirmed it. That night, all the children got together for a meeting without Lucina and we decided to confront her tomorrow when she left her room. We were going to block her way to breakfast, and Cynthia will stop Lucina should she attempt to flee. I agreed because I wanted to see this drama. However, what I did not know was that everybody was planning to apologize to her instead of calling her out on her crush. We cornered her, but instead of everybody grilling her about her love life, they apologized to her about getting her angry. I was not too thrilled to hear this because I thought that meant Lucina would get away with her love affair with the tactician. However, Lucina personally admitted that she had a crush with your tactician and misses him after his 'sacrifice'. That was all I needed to confirm my suspicions. Many times, I have seen your daughter sneak out of her tent to spend time with Robin secretly. She thought she was being discreet, but I could see her silhouette while I was doing night patrol."

Chrom suddenly interrupted, "Wait, stop right there Severa. Lucina would sneak out of her tent?"

"Yes, she did it occasionally."

"Do you know what they were doing?"

"Well, Lucina usually seemed to be talking to Robin about upcoming battles, but I know that is just a woeful lie. They are actually there to make out with each other."

Chrom was originally worried after hearing that statement, but he immediately relaxed when he recalled the conversation earlier with his daughter. She did mention how she goes to Robin's tent late at night to help him out of respect for his job. Chrom thought about the scenario, but ultimately decided to give Lucina the benefit of the doubt. Unless Severa actually saw them being intimate, of course. He immediately asked her:

"Have you seen them kiss?"

"No. Also, stop asking me questions. I am not done with my story yet. Anyways, all the children were so accepting of her confession and her secret lover. They were quick to forgive. However, I think all the children forgot about how your daughter abandoned and betrayed us. First, we had agreed to not reveal ourselves to our parents to not interfere with the timeline. However, after she messed up and failed, we all just had to follow along with her due to her mistake. She was no longer the same person after she started hanging out with Robin. She became more distant towards us. We used to be super close, but I feel like we fell apart because she spent more time talking to Robin than talking with us. She abandoned us. She just let Robin tell us what to do. Also, I would not be surprised if your daughter seduced your tactician."

"Severa, is this why you are Lucina were fighting again? Over your belief Lucina seduced him?"

"Yes, she would not admit that she seduced and slept with him."

"Severa, I would appreciate it if you do not claim my daughter is a temptress with no morals. What are you basing your claims on? I know my daughter is not the type of person to just carelessly sleep around with other men."

"You don't see it? How else do you explain Robin's sacrifice? Your daughter guilt tripped him into his sacrifice. Don't you think it's just a coincidence he was the only one who died after all this? Also, I already told you how she became more distant towards us and became closer to Robin."

"Severa, if what you said is true, why would Robin sacrifice himself? If you truly believe what you said, I am sure he would want to survive for her and not take a chance by sacrificing himself. After all, whenever we did strategies before a battle, he never believed in taking risks that he believed had low rewards. He would never sacrifice himself and hope to return back to the world on the small chance our bonds were strong enough. If Lucina is truly the temptress like you said, I am sure she could have convinced Robin enough to let me deal with the final blow. I know Robin enough to know he made the decision on his own. My daughter did not guilt trip her. As for spending more time with Robin, I think that's just her determination to complete her mission. That was what she told me before we came here. After all, Robin was in charge of all our battle strategies and plans. Talking to him about them was probably a no brainer because our lives and battle results were in his hands. It was probably just a coincidence she had a little crush on the person who ran our army."

"You just don't see it do you? Is the truth just so scared for you to admit? You were always the same in my timeline; you trusted everybody and all the Shepherds too much. What would have happened had Robin been a Plegian spy when you found him at Southtown? He would have killed you and doomed the world. In fact, that was exactly what happened. You trusted your friends too much. Why don't you trust me on this? If all it took to trust you was to kill a couple of bandits, you should trust me more, not less. After all, I killed way more Plegians than Robin did when you first met him."

"Severa, I already told you. My daughter is not the type of person to seduce anybody. I know this. Have you seen her determination after she revealed her identity? She was so focused on her task of stopping Grima that there were too many times she overexerted herself. I had to personally tell her relax at time because she was doing too much. In fact, she never wastes any free time we have. She is always in the barracks, training with her sword whenever she can. She does not have time for secret relationships. She says it's a crush, and that is fine. As long as she did not do anything bad with it, I don't see the issue."

"You are just going to not believe me because she is your precious, innocent daughter who could do no wrong, correct?"

"No Severa, you did not give me a good enough excuse. All you told me was one statement that sounds like a conspiracy theory and her spending more time with Robin. I know I asked this question, but I'll ask it again. Do you have any physical proof that my daughter seduced or slept with Robin?"

"Well, I already told you she sneaks off to Robin's tent…"

"I trust my daughter well enough to give her the benefit of the doubt that they were discussing strategy and the future. Even you said it yourself they were just discussing tactics and did not see them get affectionate. Even if my daughter did admit she has a crush on Robin, which she did, I don't believe that would be a good enough excuse to suspect they were doing anything wrong. I am sure Robin is a man with strong morals and great restraint. He would not dare even touch my daughter. I am pretty sure he knew the consequences would be dire if he did. He was mature about everything, and never have I seen him act like a child, which you are doing right now. You have never seen them be intimate before, correct?"

"No, but…"

"Then thank you Severa. I think I am quite certain you are just spreading false rumors about my daughter being a temptress. I would appreciate it if you did no such thing in the future. The next time I catch you trying to spread malicious rumors about anybody, you will be in big trouble."

"You are just never going to believe me, huh? You still think you daughter is the innocent angel she claims to be?"

"Severa, I already told you. Lucina has done nothing for me to suspect anything. My daughter admitted she has a little crush on Robin, which I will not blame her for, as it is human nature. I believe her when she said they met at night to discuss strategy. You practically told me the same thing. There is no evidence they were being intimate with each other."

"Well maybe the problem is with you then! You are too blind to see your daughter's faults!"

Severa's mother remained silent throughout the entire conversation, but she had to intervene before things got out of hand. "Severa, please don't start getting into an argument with the ruler of the country."

Chrom interrupted her, "No Cordelia, it's OK. Severa was a big help to us during the battles. I'm sure she will simply stop bringing attention to herself once she learns it will do her nothing. I believe she just has not adjusted to peacetime yet."

Cordelia blushed and said, "Then I guess I am sorry about my daughter's bad behavior, I'm sure the next time we talk, she will behave."

"Of course. I know Severa will change her behavior once she realized there is nothing to worry about now that Grima is slain. Now, I have a lot of makeup work to do from being absent from the castle for a year, so I want to wrap up this meeting as soon as I can. Severa, tell Lucina to come into my office, please. I think our talk is done here."

Severa made no response but simply looked at Chrom with rage.

Chrom might be bad at reading emotions, but Severa was not even trying to hide her anger towards Chrom. Even Chrom could see her rage. The Exalt sighed and said "Severa, I can see you are upset, but like I said, there is no evidence to back up any of your claims."

"What do you mean? I have all the evidence. I literally just told you my claim about how there is no way Robin wasn't guilt tripped into sacrificing himself if it wasn't for Lucina's actions."

"Now Severa, I could make the rumor right now that you have a crush on Robin too based on the fact that you are trying to ruin my daughter's reputation. I will base my claims on the fact you were very cold to Lucina when she admitted she had a crush on Robin. I can conclude that you were scared of the competition, and you wanted him for yourself. To cover up you crush on Robin, you simply blamed it on my daughter to make him all yours when he comes back."

Severa's face immediately turned redder than a radish and blurted out "What. How could you think that? I don't have a crush on…."

Chrom did not notice Severa's facial expression this time and interrupted her. "I only gave an example of how your arguments fail. They are based on too many assumptions. I could conclude right now that you have a crush on Robin and you are trying to hide it, but as I said, there is no evidence to base that off of besides your actions today. The truth could just be you wanted to ruin my daughter's reputation. The truth could also be you haven't adjusted to peacetime yet and do not know how to act. I could come up with many more reasons, but because I don't have concrete proof, I would never know the truth. Robin could have simply sacrificed himself out of his belief that he was making the world a better place. Robin could have sacrificed himself to defy fate. Those would be a lot more believable than sacrificing himself out of guilt for Lucina. I already told you why your arguments on Lucina being a temptress are not convincing enough for me. Now please tell Lucina to come in Severa. I have a lot of paperwork I still have to do, and you are not helping."

Severa did not respond to Chrom and simply turned her head away and began to walk out the door. Lucina heard Severa's footsteps and immediately rushed to the bench to avoid looking suspicious. She sat down just in time as Severa opened the door and told Lucina to come back to the office. Lucina and Severa went back to their respective chairs and sat down.

"All right" Chrom started off. "I have heard both sides of the story and I think it's pretty safe to say that Severa is just spreading rumors about you Lucina. Lucina, I know the war is over, but could you please not get enraged when somebody mentions phony gossip about yourself? You did not have to overreact. Both times, you lost your temper. I know my daughter does not usually act like this."

Lucina simply muttered a "Yes, Father". Although she could not give away the fact she eavesdropped on the conversation between the two, she was actually scared of herself after hearing the conversation between Chrom and Severa. Lucina was just lucky that Chrom did not believe any of Severa's statements, and even worse, it looked like if she was truly with Robin, he would not approve of their actions if they dated. After all, there were worse things the two did besides kissing, and Chrom seemed to imply that was even unacceptable.

"Okay, Lucina, that's all I want to say. I have heard both sides and ultimately, I do believe Severa was in the wrong this time, as she could not come up with any coherent arguments for her claims that you enticed Robin and was somehow responsible for his death. She even accused you of sleeping with him, which I think is just too far, even for Severa. I know for a fact you would do no such thing. Also, she does not have concrete evidence you two were being intimate anyways, so I will give you the benefit of the doubt, Lucina. Next time, just come tell me who is spreading rumors and we will get this resolved earlier. Now Severa, I already told you everything you need to know. Don't spread malicious rumors in the future. Also, I think you should apologize to my daughter for what happened earlier."

Severa looked at Lucina and said in an insincere voice, "Sorry Princess. I did not mean to spread false rumors about you." Severa's tone almost sounded like she was mocking her.

Chrom did not catch the tone in Severa's voice and simply said, "All right, all of you are dismissed."

Severa and Cordelia left the room. Lucina suddenly felt worried as they closed the door. She realized her father was wrong about many things and she should probably correct him. Lucina opened her mouth, "Okay, Father, but I have to say…"

"Lucina, I have a lot of catchup I need to do. Please leave the room so I can concentrate. I am currently under a lot of stress, but like I said, you should go do something fun. Explore the castle. Anything but distract me right now."

"But Father…"

"Lucina, don't make me repeat myself."

Lucina saw that continuing to talk to her father was no use, so she walked out of the room. She saw Severa waiting at the door with her arms folded in her chest. That was her trademark anger stance. Cordelia was nowhere to be seen. Lucina could see Severa was not satisfied with the results of the meeting. She approached Lucina and told her in a harsh tone, "Do not think this is over, Lucina. You are just lucky your father is the Exalt, not mine."

As Lucina walked away from her father's office, she did feel sorry for Severa. After all, she did have a point. It was blatantly obvious that Chrom was biased toward supporting her daughter towards the beginning, and no matter what Severa said, Chrom always found a way to defend her actions. Lucina knew she needed her mother's advice on what to do next, so she decided she will have to try to find her mother no matter what to discuss her next course of action.


	11. The Return

Meanwhile, in the dark void, Robin was completely oblivious to the events happening in the other world. He sat in the same place he had been for the past… how long? Robin was not sure himself, and he already gave up trying to break out of the invisible barrier. Truth be told, Robin has never been in a more dangerous situation all his life. That is saying a lot, as Robin has been through an abundance of perilous situations in his years as the grand tactician of Ylisse. He has survived numerous bandit attacks, arrows to the knee, sword slashes, magical attacks, hexes that drain his life force, poisonous smoke from volcanoes, and even an ancient dragon with the ability to use mind control. However, there was something even more fatal than all of those situations above.

He was being bored to death in the middle of nowhere.

For the one thousandth time, he thought back to his conversation with Lucina. He remembered every word Lucina said. If she wasn't lying, he was going to be a father. Well, that is if Chrom doesn't kill him first. Sumia would probably not mind, as she personally loved children. She also loved to spoil her offspring as much as she could, despite the fact they were fighting in a war. Chrom was a different matter. Robin was sure Chrom would not be happy to hear the news. Knowing his girlfriend, she would probably be the type of person to hide it until she was forced to spill the truth. After all, she had too many secrets that she refuses to share, and Chrom usually lets her get away with them. Thinking back to all the times Lucina talked to her in the Plegia War, Lucina was very secretive about all of her actions. She hid her true motives until she was forced to spill them. For example, she did not reveal that she was a woman until the assassin cut off her mask that dreaded night. She did not reveal her true identity until a slip of the tongue that forced her to tell Chrom everything. Thinking back, Lucina never told anybody her motives unless she had to or was forced into a bad situation. Robin would not be surprised if at the end of the month, Chrom still remained ignorant of his daughter's condition.

Robin was lost in his thoughts about his girlfriend when a bright light began glowing behind him. Robin made the mistake of immediately turning around. Being in the dark for a long time, Robin glanced directly into the light without any type of protection. He realized he was temporarily blinded and instantly turned his eyes back to the darkness.

Robin silently muttered a curse. "Okay, that was stupid of you, Robin. Let's do this slowly this time for my eyes to adjust."

Heeding his own advice, Robin brought up his hands to his eyes and slowly turned his face towards the light, using the space between his fingers to slowly let his eyes get accustomed to the shining entity. Over time, his eyes adjusted to the brightness, and he found himself staring directly into an illusion of Naga herself. She glowed with an aura of radiance in front of Robin. Even the illusion of Lucina did not glow like how Naga did.

"Naga." Robin immediately knelt down in front of the goddess, following Chrom's exact moves the last time he met with her.

"Hello Robin. It is nice to see you again. I have good news. If everything goes as I expect, you should be out of here within a week and back in the field outside of Southtown. I told Tiki to inform the Shepherds at the castle, so they will know you will be coming back at the end of the day. However, there is something else I have to discuss with you personally."

Robin was elated to hear such a statement. He had been planning to be stuck in the void for much longer than that, at least a year. Then again, Robin did not know if time flowed properly in this dimension. One day here could mean a year in Ylisse. Or vice versa. Although his heartbeat started rising in excitement, he forced himself to stay calm in front of the goddess. "Really? I will be out of here by the end of the week? Thank you, mother goddess. I was expecting to be stuck here for much longer than that."

Naga made no signs of emotion on her face and reply back. "No, Robin. It is I who should be thanking you. After all, it was my failure that caused the Fell Dragon to be resurrected in the first place. You had to be the panacea for my negligence that almost costed your life."

"You are too humble, my Lady. It was not your fault Grima woke."

"No, Robin. I did not heed the early warnings that the Fell Dragon was going to rise from his slumber. I am sorry I had to involve you and all the Shepherds like this. Your bravery of sacrificing yourself will not go unnoticed in my eyes, and I knew it was a hard decision for you to make in the end. However, it seems fate has forsaken you and decided to give you another chance. I will explain what exactly happened after you vanished, but first, we need to talk about parallel universes."

"Parallel universes?" Robin was quite confused by such a phrase. Did Naga mean the Outrealms? That was the only thing that came to Robin's mind when she spoke those two words.

"Yes, or a better word might be alternate timelines. I am not talking about the Outrealms." Naga said as if she was reading his mind. "You should probably sit down. This will be a long conversation."

* * *

Meanwhile, in the other dimension, Lucina was in the castle courtyard with her Falchion in hand. After not finding her mother inside the castle no matter where Lucina searched, she decided to go against her mother's wishes and once again decided to practice her sword fighting. Simply put, she felt naked without swinging a sword at least once a day. She needed it to get her mind off of Robin. She needed it to forget the disastrous meeting with her father. Lucina knew her father meant no harm, but in her mind, Chrom does not know how to deal with family drama. If anything, Chrom just widened the hatred between Severa and Lucina. That was also not the only reason Lucina wanted to forget the meeting. Lucina never told her father about her pregnancy. She was also angry at herself because she let her fear take over. Well, it was more like Chrom forced her out before she could say anything, but Lucina couldn't help but wonder if she really just gave up too willingly.

Facing a dummy, Lucina decided to test out a new legendary sword move she learned from one of Ylisse's military books from the castle archives. It was called Dancing Blade, and from what Lucina could see, it was simply three sword slashes and a stab done in a certain order to quickly overwhelm an enemy. First, the sword user performs a sideways slash at an enemy, and if such a maneuver was successful, quickly follow it up with a downward slash before the enemy has a chance to recover, then do an upwards slash, and finally, end the opponent with a stab. The book mentions that if such a maneuver was done successfully and efficiently, the enemy should have no way of escaping the combination of quick moves and will quickly fall in battle.

As flashy and effective the technique sounds, Lucina was having trouble with the last stab of her sword to connect to the dummy after the third upwards slash. Lucina tried again on the dummy. "Slash, down, up, stab." Lucina repeated to herself while she mutilated the practice dummy. She tried the technique again, and as usual, she had trouble bring the third up slash quickly enough to poise herself for a quick fatal stab. Lucina was determined to get the last stab to connect. She was so focused on her desire to connect the combo that she did not see her mother enter the courtyard. She suddenly heard her mother's voice.

"Lucina, what did I tell you about practicing with your sword?"

Lucina turned around to see her mother standing at the entrance of the courtyard with her arms crossed in front of her. It was obvious she was not happy with her daughter's disobedience towards her orders.

"Yes, I know Mother. Don't do anything reckless that might harm my unborn child."

"Well, if you know that, why are you still practicing? I thought I ordered you to relax and take care of yourself. We are no longer at war, you know."

"I know, but I am trying to learn this technique that the hero king Marth once used in a fighting tournament. There was a book in our castle archives about it. Also, my meeting with my father did not go as well as I hoped, so I needed to do something to get my mind off of it."

Sumia's eyes immediately widened as she realized she was not present with her daughter when she told her yesterday she would be. "Oh Lucina, I forgot. How was the meeting with Chrom? Did he manage to sort out your argument with Severa? Did you tell your father everything about Robin? Oh, I'm so sorry Lucina. I told you I would be there if you were going to tell your father anything, but I forgot about it and I went out for a walk instead. Isn't that silly of me?"

Lucina sheathed her Falchion and said, "No, Mother its fine that you weren't there. I don't think you could have helped much anyways. But about the conversation with Chrom, I would say it was a big disaster."

"How was it a big disaster? Did you father get mad at you for having premarital sex with Robin?"

Taking a deep breath, Lucina gave her mother the entire rundown of what happened. Her father asked the two girls independently for their stories. Lucina went on in detail about how she eavesdropped on Cordelia and Severa, and how Chrom did not believe any of Severa's accusations. Lucina left out no details, telling her mother about what Chrom implied if he ever finds out Robin is dating his daughter, how he doesn't seem to accept even a kiss between the two. She ended the story by saying all Chrom knows is that his daughter has a crush on the tactician, but nothing else.

"It's okay Lucina. Your father did the best he could. I would have probably come to the same conclusion he did if I didn't know anything but the information you two gave. I am sure Severa will snap out of her anger sooner or later. She can't stay mad at you forever, you know?"

"But Mother, I didn't even tell him. I was too scared!"

"Shhh. That's not a problem dear; you can talk to him another time. I am sure he is under a lot of pressure right now. After all, he has been absent from this castle for almost a year, and he has a lot of work to catch up on."

"No Mother, you don't understand. He still believes that I am his "sweet and innocent" daughter. I couldn't just break his illusion and tell him everything. I was actually not sure whether or not to tell him because he implied he would not approve of our actions even if we kissed. He said he was sure Robin knew the consequences, and described them as "dire". We did things way worse than that, Mother."

"Lucina, it's okay. We'll find another way."

"No mother, it's not okay. I can't tell my father without him getting extremely disappointed at me now. Sure, he didn't seem to mind that I had a crush on Robin, but I think that's as far as he is willing to accept as far as our relationship is concerned. And also Robin, when is he coming back? I know it's only like two weeks, but I miss him so badly. Poor Robin. Hasn't he suffered enough?"

Sumia tried to stay optimistic. She knew there was a big chance her daughter wasn't going to see her lover ever again, but that did not discourage Sumia. She simply said, "I am sure he will be back. Just be patient, Lucina. I'm sure it will all work out in the end. Isn't that what you said about Grima?"

"I hope so too." For the one millionth and the first time since Robin's death, Lucina got sad and buried her head into her mother's arms.

As if on cue, a voice behind the two suddenly materialized and said, "Don't worry, Lucina. He should be back at the end of the week if everything goes right."

Lucina and Sumia both turned around to see Tiki behind them.

"Lady Tiki!" Lucina exclaimed. She had not been expecting anybody to be listening in on their conversation. The courtyard was devoid of life last time she looked around. "Were you eavesdropping on us?"

"No, I was just walking by. It was pure coincidence that you two were talking about Robin when I got here. But I just want to say I got news from the goddess herself that Robin should be back soon and I should tell everybody. If she had to make an estimate, he should be back at the end of the week. You don't need to wait any longer. Let your mind be at peace."

"Really?" Lucina might have been depressed before, but her eyes suddenly beamed up and a smile quickly formed on her face. "He will be back? Do you really mean it?"

"Yes." Lady Tiki said. "I guess since you are wishing for his return more than anybody, I will give you a little more explanation about what happened to Robin after he died."

"What… what do you mean?" Lucina could barely contain her excitement. Robin was going to come back and nothing else mattered. He must miss me, even though it has only been a day since we last met. Lucina at the moment could care less about Tiki's explanation.

"Well, do you want to hear about what happened to Robin after he died? I know I told you he's currently stuck in a dimension between life and death, and why he is currently stuck…."

"NotrightnowTikiTellmelater." Lucina said those words too fast for anybody to comprehend. She began jumping up and down in joy while simultaneously running across the courtyard in circles, as if she had taken a stamina hex. She kept yelling, "Robin's back! Robin's going to be back!"

Tiki stopped her conversation when she realized Lucina was no longer paying her any attention and instead running in the courtyard. Sumia and Tiki watched as Lucina ran in circles of joy. Sumia smiled and said to Tiki, "She sure is excited about Robin's return, isn't she?"

Tiki looked at Lucina's reaction and could only respond with sorrow, "Yeah, it's making my heart hurt. After all, she is quite lucky to have a loved one come back from the dead. As a manakete, I really wished I could see Mar-Mar again, but he is long gone from this world. If I knew how to bring Mar-Mar back from the dead, I would. But even goddesses don't have that power. The dead stay dead. I am just thinking how lucky it is for her to actually have a loved one back."

Sumia knew Tiki's story quite well. Tiki was part of Marth's army when she traveled with him thousands of years ago. As a manakete, she could live up to thousands of years, while normal humans would normally only live up to around seventy or eighty, assuming from natural causes. Tiki watched as everybody in Marth's army grow old and disappear from the face of the Earth. As heroic as the old hero king was, even he was not immune to the consequences of time. Tiki watched the love of her life disappear from old age also. This was all while she barely aged. Lucina and Robin could probably live a full life and die peacefully around the same time span, but Tiki could see them disappear and never come back. All she could say was, "I am sorry, Lady Tiki."

Tiki looked back at Lucina's mother and said, "It is fine. I thought I had gotten over these feeling centuries ago, but I guess not. Well, I have to inform the other Shepherds too, so I need to leave. You take care of your daughter and her unborn child. We really do owe her a big debt of appreciation for stopping the end of the world, so I would hate for her to get hurt."

Sumia had to force a smile, "Of course. You are too kind, Lady Tiki. We simply did what we had to do for our kingdom."

Tiki excused herself and walked into the castle to bring the good news. Sumia watched as she disappeared behind the doors. Sumia then looked back at her daughter, who was still jumping around in joy around the courtyard. At that moment, Sumia couldn't help but smile for her daughter. Sumia knew she probably took Robin's death worse than anybody could, and hearing he will be back would probably be the best news she could receive all day. Sumia thought back to the time when Chrom almost died from being impaled from a lance. Sumia would have never known what she would have done had Chrom really died, but at that moment, she was grateful he survived his wounds. Chrom would probably remain dead, and she would always be sad for the rest of her life about his death, unable to move on.

Sumia suddenly had an epiphany. It was obvious Lucina did not feel comfortable telling her father. However, if Robin was really going to come back in a week, then they could probably get married as soon as they can if both agreed. After all, most of the Shepherds now definitely know Lucina is in love with Robin, from the two incidents at the dining hall earlier, and her husband didn't have a problem with that. At the very least, it probably would not arouse any suspicions for a quick wedding. She could probably get Robin to agree once he comes back. However, could she get her husband to agree? Her daughter did mention how Chrom would probably flip out seeing the two kiss. Thinking to herself, Sumia thought about the best way to implement her classified proposal as she watched her daughter continue to sprint in joy across the courtyard. It seemed like Lucina could not run out of energy.

"Lucina, for Naga's sake, calm down! You are going to trip and hurt yourself. I don't want you ending up in the infirmary!"


	12. Morgan

Meanwhile, as Lucina was running around the castle courtyard in joy about Robin's return, the tactician was having a brain seizure by listening to Naga talk about the abstract concept of alternate timelines. Naga was trying to explain it to the best of her ability, but Robin believes nothing could be more bewildering and infuriating. Robin has done a lot of difficult tasks in his time as a tactician, but none of them involved concepts he could not fathom with his own eyes. Even Miriel's scientific journals about gravity made more sense than the idea of infinite parallel universes, and that is saying a lot to Robin as Miriel's books has an overabundance of archaic jargon that only educated scholars would even have a chance of understanding.

According to Naga, after Lucina and the other children traveled from their future back into the past when their parents were still young and unmarried, multiple alternative timelines suddenly formed in response. These new timelines were created to symbolize all the possible ways the future could have been affected by the children's time traveling shenanigans. For example, in one alternate timeline, all the children died before meeting their parents and Grima conquered the world. In another, Lucina actually killed Robin after finding out Validar could control him. There was even one where Lucina actually stopped Emmeryn's death in Plegia, but Grima still destroyed the world under different circumstances. The list of possibilities goes on forever, all showing different ways the future could have changed by the children's influence. Keeping up with all the possibilities is making Robin's head hurt harder than the time his father used mind control on him.

As confusing as the concept was, Robin believes he has a general understanding of how the different timelines function after an hour of frustrations and careful analysis. But Naga's explanation does bring up a number of questions. Was the timeline he was in the real one? What happened to all those other ones? Why was Naga telling him all of this? Robin had to find out.

"Naga, sorry to interrupt." Robin blurted out, "But you said there were around infinite timelines, correct? Which one is the real one? Am I just in a fake reality?"

"I don't understand your question, Robin."

"Why am I not experiencing, say, the timeline where Lucina actually killed me after the escape from Plegia Castle? Am I just one of the infinite timelines and I just got lucky that Grima is defeated in this one?"

"No, Robin, keep in mind all these new timelines were created as a response to Lucina and the other children's actions. They exist because the course of history was changed with time travel. Fate was unsure how the shift in the time space continuum would affect the future, and so these parallel universes popped up as possibilities for what could have happened. Once Lucina and the others began to spend more time in your present and change events that did not occur originally, potential timelines that had Lucina do just the opposite simply disappeared. For example, I am sure there was one timeline where Lucina was too late to stop the assassination of Emmeryn that dreaded night in the manor. However, once that future was averted by Lucina's actions in your present and Emmeryn actually survived the assassination, all timelines where Emmeryn died that night simply disappeared because fate has been changed. It is the same concept with all the possible situations where Lucina killed you. After she spared your life, all alternative worlds where you died by her blade disappeared. As the actions of the children became obvious, false timelines simply disappeared. The number went down from around infinite to zero after Grima was defeated. You can rest easy that you are living in the real future."

"All right, that makes sense." Robin said. Naga's examples really helped him understand the concept more clearly, and he was determined not to think too hard about it. But why did Naga tell him such a confusing concept?

Robin asked a follow up question, "But why did you want to tell me all this? Is there still another version of history where Grima is still present and I need to slay him again?"

"Oh, heavens no Robin. You can rest assured Grima will never affect the world ever again. Because of your sacrifice, any timeline where he was successful disappeared after your sacrifice. Like I said, after Grima's defeat, the number of alternate timelines went from around infinite to zero. However, a certain consequence of my choice in another timeline that no longer exists is affecting the present. And that is exactly why I wanted to tell you about this. To explain someone else who will be coming into your life shortly. Don't worry, it is not anything malicious like Grima. I think you will be happy to hear about it, but I had to explain parallel universes for you because I know what I will tell you next will shock you without the background information."

Robin sighed a breath of relief hearing Grima was defeated in every other timeline. He did not want to go through the trouble of fighting such an adversary ever again. But somebody else coming into his life, who could it be? And why was Naga being so vague about her statements?

For the second time, as if Naga was reading Robin's thoughts, an image of a young girl with short, blue hair appeared in front of Robin. What Robin saw in the image did not make any sense. The girl was wearing the exact same robe Robin had on. She carried a fire tome in one hand and a sword in the other. Looking closely, Robin saw the girl was dressed the exact same way he usually did. If it wasn't for the blue hair, Robin almost could have believed it was an image of a younger, female version of himself "Naga, who… who is this?"

"That… is your daughter Morgan. I explained alternative timelines because she comes from one of them."

"My… my daughter?" Robin was shocked to hear such a statement. Lucina told him he remained single in the original world. He never married. Did he have a secret affair with somebody like he did with the Chrom's time traveling daughter?

"But that… that… that does not make any sense. Lucina told me I never married in her original future. All the other Shepherds wed and had their kids, but I remained single and childless up to the moment when Grima took control of my body and betrayed Chrom."

"Yes, and that is exactly why I told you about the alternate universes. You see Robin, she is also from another timeline different from Lucina's future. This is just one of the infinite parallel universes that popped up as a response to Lucina's time travel. In this timeline, after defeating Validar, the real Grima never showed up, and all the Shepherds believed that the war had been won and the rise of the Fell Dragon was averted. There was an era of peace afterwards, and many of the children settled down with their parents in the castle. After returning back to Yllistol, you and Lucina quickly got married despite the objections from Chrom. However, it was Sumia who managed to convince him in the end and you two began a new life together. It was good timing too, as Lucina found out after the wedding she was one month pregnant and that avoided some unnecessary implications. Sometime later, you daughter Morgan came into the world."

"That sounds like a happy timeline all right, but Naga, you said Lucina is the mother of this child? You are sure about this?" This parallel universe sounded like exactly what happened in the real timeline except that Grima never showed up."

"Yes, that is correct. Here I will show you undisputable proof she is Lucina's daughter." The image of Morgan zoomed into her right eye. Robin immediately noticed the Brand of the Exalt in her eyes, just like her mother.

"That's… the Brand…" Robin said out loud in surprise.

"Yes indeed. I hope this evidence should suffice."

Robin for a second almost did not want to believe it. He instantly blurted out, "It could be Cynthia. She also has blue hair and is a member of the Ylissian royal family."

"I can assure you it is not her, Robin. Cynthia died in that timeline before she married or had a child. There is no other possibility."

Robin had no doubt about Morgan's parentage, and did not know why he just said that. Robin knew there was no way she was going to be Cynthia's child, because he rarely interacted with Lucina's younger sister. He always just gave orders to her, but beside that, they really did not have any real interactions during the war. It had to be Lucina's child. The blue hair and the Brand all show it. Her robe and face proved who her father was. Robin immediately thought back to the conversation he had with Lucina. Was it the same child? The one that is still growing inside of her stomach? The story sounds like the exact same time when Morgan was conceived. However, Naga continued the story, so Robin had to put those thoughts aside for later.

"However, what the Shepherds did not know was that the real Grima that also traveled back in time with Lucina. He was bidding his time after Validar's death, waiting for the right moment to strike. You know how in the your world, the real Grima from the future showed up after you defeated Validar to summon the Fell Dragon immediately? The good news was, he did not have the power to be invincible like he was in Lucina's timeline. He thought he was strong enough for an early destruction of the world, but he underestimated the Shepherds. You managed to defeat him before he became too powerful, and I have you to thank for that."

Robin never thought about it like that. If what Naga said was true, pride was Grima's downfall.

"Anyways, I guess I will continue to tell the story where Grima simply choose not to interfere after Validar was slain. He realized he did not have enough power to take over the world yet, so he stayed hidden and waited for himself to regain the powers he lost during the time travel. After about a decade of peace where no major wars were fought beside occasional bandit attacks, he had found the perfect opportunity to strike. By then, you and Lucina had retired from the Shepherds and lived in the castle raising Morgan. All the other Shepherds were raising their own children. Nobody had fought in a war ever since Validar's death. However, that complacency and ignorance was the kingdom's downfall. Once again, the Fell Dragon appeared in the sky, just like how Grima summoned him that day after Validar died. None of the Shepherds could believe it. They thought by defeating Validar, the world was saved. However, there was no time to be wasted, and Chrom immediately set out to reunite the Shepherds and the army to fight against the threat. But however, it was way too late. By now, he was invincible, and nothing could even scratch the dragon. Risen once again began to appear in the millions, and they overwhelmed entire armies by their sheer strength. Regna Ferox fell first. It would be no surprise if Grima was silently building a secret army while the kingdom was growing complacent from the peace."

"So, I am guessing we all died just like in Lucina's original timeline?"

"Yes, it is not hard to guess how this ends. All the Shepherds were easily defeated by Risen and the remaining survivors went into hiding. You, Lucina, Chrom and the remaining Shepherds choose to make a last stand at Ylisse Castle while you sent all younger versions of the children to places where Risen had not yet infiltrated. It was a heroic last stand, but the waves of Risen were no match for your ragged army. After a week, the castle has fallen and Ylisse ceased to exist. All the survivors of the battle were executed mercilessly by Grima's army. Grima was now strong enough to take possession of your body and made you become the Fell Dragon's host once again. All the younger versions of the children escaped, but you used your special abilities to teleport Morgan back to the castle. After that, she became easily controlled via mind control by Grima to do his bidding. Morgan became the crown princess, and you sent her to hunt down all the remaining children. Morgan succeeded in the task after another decade, and all the younger versions of children were killed. I guess you could say that all the Shepherds and their children were erased from existence besides you and your daughter."

"No!" Robin screamed out loud. "This can't be real! What about my wife, surely Grima spared her?"

"No, the older Lucina fell in battle."

Naga must have seen the sight of desperation and tears in Robin's face and quickly assured him otherwise.

"Do not worry Robin, I think it was better that way. After all, she was the one that caused him so much trouble and forced him to time travel back. You can no doubt be assured he had many painful tortures planned for her had she survived the battle. You can consider her death a blessing. Also, like I said, none of what I am saying happened, because reality turned out to be much different due to you and Grima's actions. That was just one of the possible timelines."

Robin immediately felt better hearing that, but he could not stand hearing the fact Lucina could have possibly died. It made his heart break just thinking about it.

"Anyways, back to my story. After all traces of the Shepherds and their children were exterminated, Grima called for Morgan to slay Naga as the final step to ruling the world with no opposition. However, before that plan can be put into effect, the Naga from that timeline, in a last resort situation to save the world, erased Morgan's memories and sent her back to the past, or the timeline you currently inhibit. It was a last desperate attempt to stop Grima from manipulating his daughter and hopes that fate can be changed."

Naga continued, "However, the Naga in that time period made one mistake. By erasing her memories before sending her back into this timeline, she was in the same situation you were in when you first awoke on the field outside that town. She had no idea where she was, and because she was sent back alone from an alternate timeline that nobody knew existed, none of the other children knew about her. I am not sure what she remembers, but I can confidently say she will remember you as her father. All the children that came with Lucina in the original timeline were all reunited because they knew each other. Nobody knew about your daughter. She is currently in your world somewhere, still confused about her situation, waiting for somebody to explain everything."

Robin could only listen in shock as Naga finished the story. He was silent for a long time, trying to make sense of everything. According to Naga, he had a daughter with Lucina that came from an alternative timeline. He became Grima, so Naga in that timeline sent Morgan back to help him. However, because nobody in the Shepherds knew about her, they never found Morgan and she is currently stuck in this timeline, confused about her situation. Robin was not sure whether to feel happy or confused. He was happy to know he has a child, but confused about what the hell is going on.

Robin finally managed to compose his thoughts to ask one question, "So my daughter, she's currently in Ylisse?"

"Yes."

"In this timeline?"

"Yes, the only timeline."

"Where is she right now?"

"You don't need to worry about that Robin; I have located her whereabouts. You will meet her the moment you come back to Ylisse from the dead. I will appear in front of her and tell her that she will be meeting her father. I will then teleport your daughter where you will return, in the field outside Southtown. You should see her shortly after you wake up. However, she lacks most of her memories, but I am sure you can handle such a miniscule problem. It was a pity she never helped you in the war like I intended, but at least she was safe from harm all this time. I don't have the ability to send her back to her original timeline. Like I said, those timelines no longer exist now that Grima is actually defeated, so she is pretty much stuck in your world. Be sure to take good care of her!"

Naga's illusion started to fade and the light began to dim. Robin realized that Naga was starting to leave. He quickly shouted out loud, "Wait Naga! I have so many questions about my daughter. What does she remember? How old is she? When will I leave this place so I can see her?"

Naga's light stopped dissipating, and Robin could see the goddess's illusion brighten again. He squinted his eyes.

The goddess responded, "I don't know how old she is and what she remembers. I am sure she remembers who you are. I will say that you can leave once I am sure traces of Grima are completely gone from the world. A part of his soul is still alive in this dimension also, slowly falling out of existence. I predict it would take a week before this trace of his soul goes away, and there will be no evidence he ever existed. If I let you out too soon, there is the miniscule chance he can use that piece of his soul that is still hanging onto the last shreds of life to resurrect himself in the future, even if it takes a million years. Just be a little patient. I know you are dying to see you daughter and your loved ones, but as soon as this final piece of Grima's soul disappears for real, you will be free to go!"

Naga's illusion started fading once again and even faster this time. Robin yell one last thing, "Naga, Grima is truly dead right? Just want to make sure!"

However, the goddess was already gone, and Robin was back in the same dark dimension he had gotten accustomed to.


	13. Afternoon

The rest of the afternoon went by relatively quietly for Lucina. She grabbed a ham sandwich from the kitchen. There was not a set time for lunch, as most of the Shepherds have their own plans, so there was nobody inside the dining hall. She went back to her room to eat. Truth be told, she was not even hungry, despite practicing her sword technique for around an hour in the castle courtyard. All she could think about was Tiki's words assuring her Robin will return within the week and her unacceptable behavior of losing her temper not only once, but twice. It must have taken her about half an hour to eat half her sandwich from the kitchen, and even then, she set aside the other half on her table for later because she lacked an appetite.

After putting the sandwich aside, Lucina sat down on her bed to reflect on herself. For her, it was getting harder and harder to hide the bond between her and Robin. The evidence was obvious: she had overreacted from simple banter between the children. Severa was mad at her because the red haired fighter believed Lucina abandoned all the children just to seduce Robin. It was the first huge companionship drama since the end of the war. Sumia and Tiki knew about her illegitimate child. All the other Shepherds saw her argument with Severa at breakfast. Lucina knew that is exactly how ill rumors are made.

" _Ugh. Is… Is it even worth hiding this anymore? It seems like all my attempts to be subtle has failed completely. If Severa was smart enough to figure out I was sneaking out to Robin's tent during the war, who knows what the other Shepherds on night patrol have seen? Heck, most of the children were not too shocked about it. I think most of the adults would probably know about this anyways. Is it better to just come clean to everybody?"_

Lucina was frustrated out of her mind. It felt like a big burden is rotting in her heart, and it will soon spread across her veins and arteries. She almost wanted to lie down on her bed and cry, but couldn't find the tears to flow. It was probably because she knew Robin was going to be back at the end of the week that she couldn't force herself to be somber. But she did not know what to do. All she could do was lie down in bed with a mixture of regret and happiness.

" _Robin. What have we done? More importantly, what have I done?"_ For the one hundredth time since she returned to the castle, Lucina was having second thoughts. Truth be told, the princess simply believed her actions did not matter in the end. The way Lucina saw it, there were two options. Either all the Shepherds including herself died fighting Grima or all the children returned to the future timeline after Grima is slain. Either choice meant that any relationship the two ever had after her mission was complete was moot. Tiki told her too late that time traveling back is impossible both due to a lack of power from Naga and that all future timelines become nonexistent. Looking back, she could not believe she could be so pessimistic and naïve to believe she could just return. She did not even think about how her actions could have affected future timelines.

Thinking hard, Lucina literally saw no reason to be secretive anymore. It has caused her too much emotional and mental trauma. Perhaps it is the best. Besides, Lucina has never formally apologized to the Shepherds for her two outbreaks. Only the children heard her first apology, and even then, Severa refused to accept it. It would be bad manners not to at least say something about both incidents to everybody. Lucina decided she should probably make a public announcement at dinner to both apologize and confess her "crush". It would get something off her chest. She could probably breathe easier without such a burden on her.

* * *

Lucina was waiting for Chrom to walk out of his office that afternoon. He knew her father usually liked to make a speech at the end of each dinner. Chrom used it at times as a rallying cry if there was a battle soon. He also used it to announce news like having more recruits join the army or announce a toast to their victories. Lucina was hoping to say something afterwards to all the Shepherds and children. It was probably the best time to do so. There was no doubt there were many rumors about Lucina and Robin being secret lovers circulating around the castle. She had to eliminate such accusations.

Sitting outside on a bench just outside her father's office, Lucina waited for around ten minutes before the door opened and the Exalt exited his office. He looked exhausted, with sweats of bead on his head flowing down like rain. From the looks of it, it was a tiring day doing all the paperwork and ruling a country that just went through three devastating wars in the last three years. Lucina did not blame him for his anxiety.

Chrom's first words were less than amicable due to all the pressure. "Lucina? What are you doing outside my office? I thought I told you not to disturb me. You should be at dinner with everybody else."

Hearing his tone, Lucina began to doubt herself for a moment about her plan. Her father did not seem too elated to see her waiting outside his office. However, running away was not an option, so she said to the Exalt, "I know father, so that's why I was waiting outside your office. I didn't want to interrupt. I just have one simple request. I was wondering if I could address everybody after you finish your daily updates? I know I wasn't there to hear it yesterday, but I have to apologize to everybody for my behavior."

Chrom's face immediately turned from slight annoyance to relief. He agreed, and the two started walking towards the kitchen together.

When Chrom and Lucina entered the room, everybody stood up to greet the Exalt. Chrom smiled at everybody and told them to enjoy their dinner. Everybody sat down and resumed talking. Lucina had no illusions that everybody was probably talking about her and managed to pick up a few phrases here and there.

"…for sure in love with Robin…."

"…so cute together…"

"…probably heartbroken…"

"…never seen her so mad…"

"…so immature…"

"…louder than Grima's death roar…"

Lucina kept her poker face, ignoring all the conversations around her. She walked to grab a plate, filled it with food, and strolled towards where all the children were. Thankfully, they were not making rumors about her like the other adult Shepherds. All the children's faces turned towards her as she sat down, but nobody said a word. Only Severa did not pay her any attention and immediately went back to being a messy eater.

Lucina did not know how to start the conversation, so she thought about the most cliché thing to say. "Hello, everybody. I hope everybody had a wonderful day. I know you probably hate me right now, but let me just say I apologize for…"

"Why would we hate you Lucina? And why are you apologizing?" a voice belonging to Inigo permeated in the air, interrupting her sentence.

Lucina was caught off guard by the question. "You… you don't hate me right now?"

This time it was Cynthia who spoke up, "Big sis, I don't think anybody here could hate you for anything. After all, you were our leader in the future. No matter how bad the situation was, you helped all of us get through it. You have nothing to apologize for. Besides, why would we hate you for?"

"Nooo… not that. It's just… I have never gotten mad at any of you before. I somehow managed to lose my temper twice in such a short time span. I should probably apologize for such bad behavior. It is not normal for me, I promise. I'm just afraid you think I am weird or angry at you… when in reality…"

"Lucina, I already told you. Just forget about all of that. Nobody thinks you are weird or hate you for any reason. Things happen. We don't mind." Cynthia continued.

"You… you really don't?"

"Yeah, I am sure nobody here minds. You don't have to apologize, sis."

Voices of agreement began to spread throughout the table, as all the children repeated Cynthia's sentiments. Well, everybody but Severa. She ignored all of the conversation and continued poking at her food.

Lucina smiled and addressed everybody. "Thank you all for those kind words. I believed you all would hate me for what I have done. And if I have made anybody angry, I do apologize. I promise I will try to stay calm and not cause a tantrum next time. And Severa…" Lucina moved her eyes towards Severa at the end of the table. Severa looked up to Lucina with eyes of fire.

"I just want to say I am sorry for yelling at you today morning. It was bad judgment on my part, and I promise it will not happen again. Can you forgive me?"

Severa did not respond to Lucina's apology. She made no indication she heard what Lucina said. Instead, she got out of the table with her plate. All the children, including Lucina, watched as she moved out of her seat and walked towards an empty chair near the adult's table. She sat down and began eating again.

"Are you two still fighting? Didn't father solve this problem between you two already this morning?" Cynthia asked her sister.

Lucina said despondently, "Yes. It's a long story. Let's just say my father isn't the type of person to settle family disputes. He made it worse."

"What? What did father do?"

"I don't want to talk about it. Let's just say Father sided with me unconditionally even when some of Severa's claims have legitimacy."

"What? Sis, I know you wouldn't seduce Robin. What did she say that was correct?"

"Well… let's just say some of Severa's beliefs are definitely possible conclusions to arrive at. Like she believes I abandoned all of you for my secret lover Robin. I'm just saying from her point of view, she does have legitimate excuses to be mad at me. All you need to know is that our Father did not really do a good job as arbiter. Severa did not get her way, so she is still upset with me."

"But sis, how could anybody believe you abandoned us? All of us were actually relieved because you always seemed to overexert yourself. Robin gave you some breathing space, and we all noticed you became more calm and relaxed. If anything, you became a happier person. I will definitely talk to Severa to get her to snap out of her confusion."

"No, Cynthia. Just let it go. I am sure she can forgive me eventually. It will just take time. Can we talk about this later, Cynthia? I am actually pretty hungry right now and I want to eat. I don't want to miss out on leftovers."

Cynthia did not really accept this as an answer and was curious to know more about the breakup between the two. The pegasus knight glanced over to her sister, who was already voraciously eating. She wanted to continue the conversation, but decided against it seeing how fast Lucina was gobbling down her food. Her older sister seems to have gotten a bigger appetite recently. To Cynthia, that was not like her older sister. She always just ate the bare minimum needed to get through the day. _Is my big sister okay? Does she just not care anymore about her health now that the war is over?_ Thinking back, Lucina seemed very secretive and detached ever since the war ended. Cynthia suspected it was because of Robin's death, but Cynthia had a feeling there was more to the story than mutual love between the two. There was probably even more to the story than Severa believing Lucina enticed Robin as a temptress. The two never argued in the future, and now that the war is over, they were the first piece of drama in the castle. Something bigger is definitely at play. Lucina has been acting very strangely for the past week and she was determined to find out what. She began hatching her plan again to corner her and force her to spill the beans, just like she planned this morning.

* * *

After dinning was finished, Chrom began his usual update on current events. He began with Tiki's news that Robin should be returning at the end of the week. Nobody seemed surprised, as Tiki had already told everybody in the castle long before dinner. After that news, Chrom began talking about his plans to rebuild and reform Ylisse's military as well as rebuilding Ylisse from the ruins of three devastating wars. Chrom mentioned his plans to allocate some of Ylisse's imperial treasury to rebuilding small towns that were destroyed as a result of collateral damage from the wars. He also mentioned his plans to build a power navy and warships for the country, as Ylisse had been caught off guard by Valm's naval power and had no way to contest them without the help of Plegia. He also mentioned plans to introduce a new section of the military dedicated to magic and dark magic. Truth be told, nobody really paid Chrom any attention. It was more like a ceremonial event rather than a necessary event in the post-war era.

Chrom finished his update with a surprise statement that nobody had anticipated. "However, my daughter told me she has something she was to tell everybody. I think I will let her up here to say it."

Lucina left her seat to walk up to where her father was. As expected, she made a statement issuing her apology about losing her temper twice on such miniscule detail and promises not to happen again. Lucina wasn't sure whether or not to say it, but she in the end decided to confess she did have a crush on the white-haired tactician and telling the Shepherds to stop spreading rumors about it. Looking at the crowd, nobody seemed too surprised. If Lucina had to guess from facial expressions, most of the Shepherds seemed to accept the apology and her confession. Lucina went back to her chair and sat down, embarrassing about what she just confessed but at the same time relieved the she no longer had to keep a secret.

Chrom took over after Lucina walked back towards her seat. "Thank you, Lucina. I am sure everybody here can forgive you. It is not a big deal. Also, you all heard my daughter. No rumors about her anymore, please. All of you are dismissed. Breakfast is at sunrise, don't be late or you won't have your share!"

All the Shepherds began walking out of the room. Lucina followed everybody out of the room. All of them went their separate ways. Lucina went straight for her room, oblivious that Cynthia was already waiting for her at the door. She was determined to find out the truth. The pegasus knight was one of the first ones to leave the dining hall after Chrom dismissed them.

Lucina arrived at her door, and for the second time, she found Cynthia blocking her way.

"Cynthia, what is the matter? Why are blocking me from entering my personal bedroom?"

Cynthia was not sure how to bring up the topic to her sister. She simply asked, "Lucina. What is going on? What are you hiding?"

"What are you talking about, Cynthia?"

"Lucina, I know for a fact you are hiding something from me. What is it?"

"Cynthia, I am not hiding anything from you. I just confessed my love to Robin. What else could be more embarrassing than that?"

"Lucina, I know you are not telling me the full truth. You have been extremely secretive and emotional ever since the war ended. The explanation that your crush died might have satisfied all the other children's answers, but I know you better than that. You have that look on your face that says there are details you left out. Also, you pretty much told me that Severa was correct about some parts of her accusations. She must have found something out that we don't know. I think there is something deeper between you and Robin that you have not told anybody. So what exactly is it?"

Lucina wasn't quite sure what to say. "Um… well….Cynthia, there is nothing I have not told you. You are overthinking it."

Cynthia did not believe such an answer. It would have been more believable to her if Lucina just said Walhart came back from the dead and was once again planning to invade Ylisse.

"You've slept with him, haven't you? And you're bearing his child."

Lucina did a quick glance around her shoulders. Thankfully, both of the hallways were empty. That is, unless Kellam was using his invisible powers snooping around. However, that was all the evidence Cynthia needed to confirm her suspicious.

Cynthia began to speak again. "It is that… isn't it?"

"No, Cynthia. Do you know how much trouble I could get for doing that? I would never hear the end of this from anybody."

"It's okay, sis. I promise not to tell anybody."

"Cynthia, I already told you, nothing like that happened."

"Lucina, your nervousness already determined that is a lie. You did a quick glance around the hallway as soon as I said that. I know my sister would not even do that if it wasn't the truth. Also, the signs were pretty obvious, sis. When I hugged you this morning, I somehow felt it wasn't right. It was weird, because I felt like I couldn't wrap your arm around you comfortably like I used to. You confessed your love for Robin, and you got mad at Severa for accusing you of seducing him. I know my sister would not do that, but I think there has to be more to the story if you managed to react out of proportions. You eating patterns also changed. Did you forget we grew up together as siblings? I know you well enough to know when you are lying."

Lucina was at a loss of words. Even thought it could not have been a minute since she last did it, she checked the hallway again to make sure it was empty. She turned back towards her younger sister. Lying to Cynthia was pointless now.

"Cynthia, perhaps we should speak about this privately in your room or mine?"


	14. Cynthia

The two sisters went inside Lucina's room. Just like last time, Lucina took extra precautions to make sure nobody was eavesdropping on them. She had the door locked up tight and looked out her window to make sure nobody was trying to snoop in. Satisfied with her findings, Lucina sat down beside her younger sister on her bed and simply said, "Now Cynthia. Whatever you want to know, you have to promise me not to tell anybody else. Especially not my father. You remember that time we got scared over that big bug in the barracks? And how Father was a lot less calm scolding us? It will be a lot worse than that."

Cynthia seemed so intent on finding out that she agreed to her older sister's demands immediately. "Of course, sis."

Lucina managed a weak smile for Cynthia and said, "Okay, what exactly do you want to know? You figured out most of the story already, and I think I don't have anything to hide from you anymore."

"Tell me everything. From the beginning!" Cynthia almost yelled out in excitement.

Lucina flinched at her statement. "Everything?"

Cynthia's excitement was unparalleled. "Yes everything. About how heroic your boyfriend was, how he always managed to save the day no matter what battle you were in, his dramatic battle entrances, how charismatic he is ,how you two got together and fell in love, and how awesome he was at…"

Lucina interrupted her sister, "Whoa, calm down Cynthia. I don't have time to tell you about all of this. Also, don't call Robin my boyfriend. Just say Robin." Lucina really did not want to have a repeat of her mother's habit after she found out about the two secret lovers.

"Okay, but I want to hear everything and all the details. Do not leave anything out!"

"So you also want to know the details of my private life between me and Robin?"

Cynthia's eyes widened as she realized what she just said. "Oh heavens no sis. Just start from the beginning. How exactly did you two fall in love?"

Lucina saw no choice but to oblige for her younger sister, who clearly did not accept no as an answer. "Well, there wasn't exactly like an exact moment. I do remember the first time I talked to him, a long time ago. I approached him after one of the battles in Valm and asked him if I could have a word with him. I told him of my mission, the desolate future, why we cannot fail. He gave me his promise to never stop fighting for the future."

Cynthia giggled hearing such statement. "So that was when you fell in love with him?"

Talking to Cynthia, Lucina suddenly realized she was having the exact same conversation she had with Sumia. Lucina did not really want to tell it again.

"You know Cynthia, I told my mother the same story about two days ago. Ask her. She knows this story too."

"Nooooo. But sis, I want to hear the story from you. You were there for everything! Mom wasn't.. Wait… mother knows about this story? Our mother? Sumia?"

"Yes, she was unfortunately the first one to find out about everything."

"Oh… I'm so sorry sis. Did she get mad at you?"

"Surprisingly, no. She was actually quite calm about it. In fact, she was almost supportive of me."

"What? I thought mother would not be too happy. Also, if our mother knows about it, why can't I tell our father?"

"Father… father would be worried if he found out. Don't ask, please." Lucina immediately thought back to Chrom's talk with Severa, saying how Robin knows better than to meddle with his daughter.

"What would he be worried about?"

"Let's just say I eavesdropped on him and know thoughts on the matter hypothetically. Let's just get back to the story. I'll tell you everything. Don't ask our mother. Anyways, I met with him a few more time…"

Lucina repeated the entire story she told her mother that night. She went on in detail about how the two met, fought together, met secretly at night. She even confessed her true feelings of Robin, and even about how Robin proposed to her. Of course, Lucina did leave out certain details, especially how she tried to kill Robin. She was able to control her emotions this time because she knew Robin was not dead. It did take a while to get all the information out, and Cynthia listened patiently to her sister.

All Cynthia could say after that story was, "Wow! Lucina, I am amazed. You had this much of a story between the two of you, and yet you never bother to tell everybody everything?"

"Why would I, Cynthia? It was secret for a reason."

"Oh right." Cynthia almost looked ashamed. "But that was like the most heroic story ever! Robin had all the characteristics! He came to the most desperate time of need and helped you back on your feet. His story ended just like how a tragic hero's story would. Dying to save the world. I am sure Owain would love to make a play out of this. He can sure exaggerate all of Robin's tome usage, and all of the romantic times you two had together, and…"

"Cynthia. I think you are over exaggerating Robin's abilities. He is not that impressive in battle. He simply had the brains to know what to do."

"Oh Lucina. That was not what you just told me. You have just said Robin is a man capable of defeating hoards of enemy with magic."

"Cynthia, like I said, he lacks fighting power, but he makes up for it with his strategies. You know about how he took down the Valmese navy single handedly correct? There was no way anybody could have killed over 100,000 men, but Robin had the brains to drown all of them due to his intelligence. He probably did not kill a single men with his own hand that battle."

"Lucina, I think you are downplaying his achievements. No matter what, he is a great hero worthy of the legends. Oh, I almost forgot to ask you the real question. When did you two… you know…?"

Lucina sighed, dreading this part of the conversation. She had skipped over it for a reason. Lucina immediately blushed and turned away with a simple, "That is personal information, Cynthia."

"Oh, come on sis, tell me... pleeeeease?"

"Why are you interested in this, Cynthia? I have tried to forget it ever happened, and you are not helping."

"Aww… You're so embarrassed about your love for the tactician. That's cute, sis. Also, don't lie to me. You just don't want to tell me. I do not believe for a second you suffered amnesia."

"Cynthia. Tell me. What did I do to deserve this?"

"By keeping everything a secret, of course. You thought you could just hide a secret relationship scotch free Lucina? Are you stupid?"

"But… but..."

"Lucina? Once again, how do you think you are going to hide something this big from everybody? It was inevitable someone was going to find out. Even if you didn't get pregnant, you can't conceal it forever. Eventually, somebody was going to find you two kissing secretly behind the trees."

"Um… To be honest, Cynthia. I did not really have any plans. I just told myself I would be back in the future timeline after Grima died, so nobody would be the wiser in the end. All I had to do was make sure nobody knew until we all returned back to the future."

Cynthia was trying to hide her smile. "Lucina, you are sooooooo stupid at times. How did we ever survive in the future with you as our glorious leader?"

Lucina was lost on what to say, "Because we were good at hiding from Grima?"

Her sister simply rolled her eyes. "Lucina, you still haven't learned how humor works, have you? I'm teasing you! Oh, I got off track. Are you going to answer my question? When did you get intimate with Robin?"

Lucina stared down at her sister and folded her arms up to her chest. The implied silence was all Lucina had to say to her Cynthia's question.

"Aww. You're not fun, Lucina. Tell me. Pleeeeaaassee?"

"Cynthia, how old are you again? Twelve?"

"Old enough to know what I'm talking about."

"Then start acting like one and stay out of my private matters. Your immaturity of asking me about my private love life is up there with your immaturity of cutting fruit with my Falchion."

"You're just too embarrassed sis."

"Cynthia, can we just talk about something else?"

"Just tell me where and I will never ask about it again. I promise."

Lucina gave a short sigh of desperation and saw no other way out of the situation. Her sister was quite persistent, and Lucina knew her sister was not the easy type to give up on something once she set her mind into it. She finally said after a long hesitation, "It was that night after we defeated Walhart. I sneaked into Walhart's personal bedroom with Robin. Does that answer your question?"

Cynthia thought for a moment and laid her arms on her sister's shoulders, "Yes. That answers that question. But wow, you got so lucky father did not catch you, Lucina."

"What? What do you mean?"

"Lucina, when went to wake you up the day after for breakfast, you were not in your assigned bedroom in the castle. Chrom knocked on your door, but there was no response. When he went inside, there was nobody there. He knows you are not a heavy sleeper like Gerome, so he was worried something may have happened to you. He called for all of us who were awake about where you could be. I was one of them. That's when we all realized we have not seen you since you excused yourself for dinner that night. We were so worried that you had gone missing or if some rogue Valmese assassins kidnapped you."

Lucina realized it was true. She did not cover her tracks well that night. Chrom gave Robin the Walhart's personal bedroom that night to relax on as a reward for conquering the castle, and Robin excused himself quite early to bed because he was tired. Chrom had assigned her one of Walhart's guest bedrooms in the castle, but she did not even spend the night there. Instead, she sneaked off to Robin's room. When the two woke up in a lover's embrace, Lucina realized that it would be bad if she was seen coming out of Robin's room. To prevent this, Lucina sneaked out the window and tried to act as nonchalant as possible.

"Yes, I imagine that worried everybody. How did it end up? I just went to the main room to eat."

"Well, you might not be aware of this, but Chrom was just telling everybody to split up and search the castle and even the Valmese cadavers for you. You just came in at the right time so the search was called off. As for why father didn't question why you disappeared, I really think you got lucky. He just seemed to care that you were safe."

"Wow, was I that close to getting in trouble?"

"Yep. But enough about that, what else happened that night?"

"All right Cynthia, but can you just… change the topic? I think I have told you enough about my private life."

"Aww… I wanna know what happened!"

"Cynthia, I answered your question very thoroughly. Can you just change the topic? We can talk about this another time."

"Okay, Lucina. Don't forget, you said 'another time'. But I guess I will ask you something else then: how many people know about this?"

Lucina thought for a moment, then said, "Well, only my mother, Tiki, and you right now. I don't know if other people suspect it. I swore my mother and the sacred dragon to secrecy."

Cynthia seemed content with that answer. "So when do you plan on telling everybody?"

Lucina was stuck in thought for a moment. She could only respond, "Hopefully after Robin's return. You know, now that I think about it, he knows about it too."

"He knows?" Cynthia seemed shocked to hear this statement. "But I thought he was dead! Did you know before we slayed Grima?"

"Well, he's not dead technically, thank Naga. But he is currently stuck in a dimension between life and death. Well, I figured it out just before we fought Grima, but I could not tell anybody because I wanted to partake in the battle. But no, I did not tell him anything before he 'died'. The plan was to tell him after the battle, but because he made the final strike on Grima, he did not find out. The only reason he knows about this too is because Tiki managed get my consciousness to Robin for me to communicate to him in my dreams."

Cynthia was shocked. "Wait, you knew you were pregnant but still chose to fight against Grima? That could have been disaster. Even if you survived, your unborn baby would not have."

"Cynthia, don't tell our mother this, but the reason I did not say anything was because I needed to take part in the battle against Grima. He had been our archnemesis for years, and I could not just stay behind and watch the battle. If my mother had known, she would have just forced me to stay behind while they fought Grima."

"Lucina, how selfish could you be? You were more concerned about slaying Grima than caring for your child? What kind of a mother are you?"

"Cynthia, I know you would not understand, but yes, slaying Grima was more important."

"Lucina, we could have all taken down Grima just fine!"

"I know, Cynthia. I know. I don't doubt the Shepherd's abilities. They were more than capable."

"So why did you risk yourself, Lucina?"

"Because I could not just stay behind and watch the battle take place. It will just hurt me more."

"How can it hurt you more? You have a legitimate reason for staying behind and to just wait while we did the dangerous work of dealing with Grima and his army. You cannot tell me that staying at the top of Origin Peak is more dangerous than fighting Grima and his minions."

"Cynthia, I know you don't like my choice, so I will try my best to explain. Think of it from my view. Grima conquered the world, destroyed our crops, poisoned our wells, killed our civilians, and unleashed untold suffering on both our continent and Valm. He has been root cause of all our problems. I have been leading the last remnants of the Ylissian Shepherds and the army for years, not knowing if we can survive another day. But however, what would you do if you were told there was something you could do to avert everything Grima did?"

Cynthia knew it was a trick question, but decided to answer honestly. "I would of course do exactly that!"

"Yes, that's the point. You would do anything in your power to make sure the menace does not threaten us ever again. No matter the costs. Even if I had a fever, I would have gone. Even if I lost my sword hand, I probably would still have gone. I know my parents would have disagreed. If I had died, my sacrifice would have been worth it if Grima never threatened the future. Grima had to go."

"Lucina, I already understand your reasons, but I just can't agree with it. You would put somebody else at risk whom has no agency of themselves."

"Cynthia, defeating the Dragon was way more important than any other conditions I had. If I was not there to help, do you know what would have happened to me? I would just be mad at myself for unable to help the other Shepherds who were suffering for me while I was comfortably watching the spectacle unfold. I had to help them."

"Lucina, why can't you think of others just this once?"

"Cynthia, I put myself at risk everyday in battle. At any given moment, any of us could have perished. This was no different. If a miscarriage means that the world is safe, that is definitely a better choice."

Cynthia was not really mad at her sister. Cynthia understood why her sister chose her decision. She just wanted to her old sister's personality back before Risen invaded Ylisse in the future. She just wanted to see her sister safe and happy.

"I know, sis. I know. But I just don't want to see you suffering. You have been too serious about your mission. Maybe you should just take a break at times. Maybe try smiling more."

Lucina forced a smiled and said, "Yes, well I think we are all taking a break right now. Well, maybe except my father. This is, I am already happy because Grima is gone. My main mission is complete, so there is nothing else to worry about. It might have been foolish for me, but I had to do it."

"Can you promise me not to risk yourself again? You said it yourself, your mission is complete."

"Yes, Cynthia. I promise I won't get myself into any more risky situations again. Does that make you feel better?"

"Oh yes sis. So much better. I just think you need a long deserved break and rest. Just don't risk yourself in anything."

"You have my promise."

"Thanks, sis. Oh, look at the time. I should probably go. Nice talking to you sis. It seemed we got more distant ever since we time traveled, but I am glad to know otherwise."

Cynthia began heading out the room. All she had expected was a story, but Cynthia realized there was a deeper story between the two lovers. In some ways, Cynthia was relieved now that Grima is slain, because Lucina became the person she was before the war began: carefree, happy, and friendly.

Lucina suddenly realized she spilled too much information for her younger sister. She had one last thing to confirm.

"Wait, Cynthia. Before you go…"

Cynthia turned her head around just as she reached the door.

"You remember, right? Your promise? Don't tell anybody until Robin is back!"

"Yes, sis! Nobody else is going to suspect a thing!" Cynthia shouted back as she closed the door.


	15. A Week Later

A week went by relatively quickly in the castle, and for the most part, everybody took up their original occupations and duties before the Valm War started. As things were heading back to normal, Lucina and the children were feeling left out because they had not lived in a world of peace since, in their minds, forever. Instead, the children just played in the castle all day, trying to reclaim their lost childhoods. They frolicked around the castle, raced each other in the hallways and laughed boisterously at their silly games of chase. To the other Shepherds and the servants in the castle, they were very disruptive. Chrom told the children to go be loud in the streets of Yllistol or to tone down their voices. Of course, all the children chose to leave the castle and go into the streets to play.

Of course, drama started happening immediately when the children went out of the castle. Inigo was slapped multiple times trying to impressive other girls. He tried to deny everything to the other children, but nobody was naïve enough to believe his excuse that he tripped and fell on his face multiple times. Noire's split personality caused her to get enraged at a local shopkeeper. The merchant, who was a novice at his field, was so scared of Noire's wrath that he was afraid the archer was going to pull out her bow and shoot him. Severa had spent her monthly stipend almost immediately on extravagant dresses and other useless accessories. Even worse, she tried to coax the other children into giving her more money. Lucina attempted to give Severa some money as a sign of reconciliation and goodwill, but Severa was having none of it. The redhead refused to accept the offer, and Lucina tried her best to look surprised. Secretly however, Lucina was actually relieved because she believed Severa was very inconsiderate for wasting money and would have never agreed to help her in any other circumstance.

When Lucina was not playing with the other kids outside the castle, she was simply counting the days before Robin came back while reading over his old tactics books in his old office. Flipping through the pages, Lucina realized how dedicated the tactician was. He had entire volumes of notes on even the smallest factors in war, such as weather, environment, enemy morale, conditioning the opponent, etc. His largest collection was on deception. Flipping through the notes he made in the book, Lucina had the epiphany that Robin used the tactics in his plans in Valm and Plegia. It was deception that caused Validar's downfall, after all. Seeing these books, Lucina thought back to the time she tried to murder him in cold blood. All the knowledge the tactician made in here would have been for nothing had he actually died then. Just looking at all the notes Robin wrote in his two years of peace was enough to make Lucina feel extremely guilty. She had tried to repress her memories of the incident, but it always came back to haunt her somehow. She needed to get her mind off it, but how?

* * *

On the other side of the dimension, Robin was still waiting for his time to exit the dark world. He was dying of boredom and was yearning to get out. Even without any reliable ways of telling time, Robin could tell it had been a week. It was just a gut feeling, but over the years, Robin had learned to trust his feelings. It was what kept him alive in many battles, when many enemies were ready to backstab him when he was not looking. His gut instinct actually kept the world alive, having the suspicion that Validar had ulterior motives for giving them the fifth gemstone.

Of course, Robin spent the majority of his time thinking about what Naga said about his daughter Morgan. The Divine Dragon's explanation made sense, and Robin had mixed feelings about his time traveling daughter. Robin realized too late that Naga's statement meant that Morgan was going to appear in front of Chrom and whoever accompanied him, and the ruler will definitely have questions. The Brand in her eye makes her lineage obvious if Chrom is careful to check. By the time Robin realized this in his last conversation with the Divine Dragon, it was too late to tell Naga to change plans. Robin could only hope that Chrom was not going to grill him too hard about his illegitimate daughter. Worst part was, Lucina was the mother.

There was also another problem Robin realized after Naga left. He did not know any rules about being a father, and he was afraid of making a mistake. He had sworn not to become like Cordelia where her child suffered an inferiority complex or Tharja where she was afraid of her mother for using her as an experiment for her hexes. To Robin, he had already messed up by transforming into a monster and manipulating his daughter to do his dirty work in the future. Naga had said she lost her memories again just like Robin did, but how much she remembers was the important part that Robin dreaded to find out. Robin hoped she did not remember the part where her father became the villain and caused the destruction of Ylisse. He hoped she remembered her happier days in her childhood instead of the war before Ylisse was overrun. All Robin could do at this point was hope. If Morgan does remember, Robin knew he will just have to make it up somehow. After all, Robin believes that what a parent did when they make a mistake.

Besides these issues, Robin was actually very excited. Although he got a visual image of his child, he could not wait to see her in person. He was one of the few men in the Shepherds that did not have any children in the future, and he almost felt left out. Robin already felt a warm connection to his child already. His heart melted when he saw many children get reunited with their parents. In fact, one of his motives during days where he felt everything was hopeless was the dream that the children could live in peace without Grima.

A light suddenly shone behind him again. Robin had been expecting Naga's return and could not be more excited. Learning his lesson last time where he was almost blinded by the brightness, Robin slowly turned around, giving time for his eyes to adjust. It was easier to do so this time, as the light seemed a lot more dim that Naga's aura. When everything was clear again, Robin realized there was nobody there, and the only new change in the world was a tunnel of light.

Robin thought about immediately to run across the light, thinking he would be free, but it was then he remembered the invisible wall. He walked forward slowly and had his hands ready in front of him to be feel at the invisible wall, but this time, the wall was gone. Robin thought his finger was deceiving him or he got the position of the invisible wall incorrectly, so he took a few more steps to make sure. After being absolutely positive that the wall was nonexistent, Robin began running towards the tunnel of light to freedom. The tunnel became closer, and he began to close in. He estimated the number of steps he still had before he reached the light. Fifty. Fourty. Thirty. Twenty five. Twenty. Eighteen. Sixteen. Fifteen…. Fourteen…. Thirteen…. Twelve…. Eleven… Ten…

He was about five steps away from reaching the light when a voice caught him off guard, "Thank you, Robin, for everything." Robin immediately stopped, recognizing Naga's voice. He looked behind him but Naga's illusion was nowhere to be found. He did a quick cursory of the environment all around him, but Naga's illusion he saw from a week ago was not there.

"Earth Mother? Naga? Where are you? Please reveal yourself." Robin shouted out into the darkness.

The voice became quieter this time. "I am currently not in this dimension right now. I am communicating to you telepathically in your brain."

"Wait, my brain? So does that mean nobody else can hear you but me?" This time, Robin did not utter any words and instead simply thought the message in his brain. He reasoned Naga could probably hear him.

"Correct, but there is nobody here anyways."

Naga's voice continued in his head. "Robin. Like I said, thank you… for everything you have done. I know the last few weeks had been painful for you, just slowly waiting, but it was for the safety of the world. I was certain you were dead after you stroke the final blow on Grima."

"Yeah… I was surprised too…"

"Robin, I did not want to keep you here like this for three weeks, but I had to. As of now, I am certain that all traces of Grima have been erased from existence. You are free to go without fear of Grima's resurrection ever again. I don't want to keep you here any longer. Let me give you a hand."

As soon as Naga finished her sentence, Robin suddenly felt himself forced to the exit. He did not know how it happened, as he knew his brain did not tell his legs to move. He could only assume Naga used some of her divine powers, and the last thing Robin remembered in this gateway dimension was the tunnel of light getting brighter and Robin getting closer until he touched the light.

* * *

Lucina finally heard the announcement she was waiting to hear from Tiki. Chrom had been anticipating the news, and already had plans ready as soon as Tiki told him. He immediately called his wife, his two daughters, his sister, and his trusty Lieutenant Frederick to leave immediately for the fields outside of Southtown. Chrom planned for Sumia and Cynthia was to use their pegasus to fly up in the air and find Robin while Chrom, Lissa and Lucina planned to be the ones looking on foot. Frederick was going to be there to protect the royal family in the case of danger. Although Chrom did not feel the need to bring Frederick along, he had been with Chrom since the beginning that the Exalt felt naked without the loyal knight.

Lucina immediately set out to her room to grab her Falchion and put on proper shoes. She made no emotions when Chrom everybody the time had come to welcome back Robin, but the princess could barely contain her excitement. Robin was going to be back! And she was going to be one of the first ones to meet him again!

Chrom offered his elder daughter, sister, and Tiki ride in a horse carriage, but they declined. All of them wanted to walk, so Chrom let them. Cynthia and Sumia took their pegasus for the mission. Frederick brought his horse, doing his part to watch out for potential dangers.

On the way to the field outside Southtown, the family traveled through a burnt forest. Although Chrom wanted to avoid the forest between Southtown and Yllistol, Chrom made sure to visit the place on his way there this time. The Exalt wanted to see what the area looks like after the big fire there three years ago where the Risen and masked Lucina appeared. The trees in the affected area were all burnt down, with new sapling growing slowly out of the ground. It was just a small patch of grass field with the remains of burnt out trees protruding out like needles. Chrom could not help but feel sad about this place.

"Father! Are you still thinking about what happened here, three years ago?"

Chrom turned to his side to look at his elder daughter. "'You know me too well, Lucina."

"Yes, can you believe how fast this time went by? It seemed like yesterday when I came out of a portal in the sky there to help you fight Risen in this area."

"Yes, the day my life changed forever, probably."

"Father, why did you want to visit this place? I thought you believed this place was cursed."

Chrom could not help but chuckle hearing her daughter's words. "I just wanted to see what this place looked like after these long years. Maybe it's best we keep this place like this. As a memento. To all the horrors we have experienced three years ago. Perhaps we should build a gigantic monument to signify Ylisse's greatness and can be seen from far away as a way…"

Lucina interrupted, not hearing the sarcasm in her Chrom's voice. "Father, I thought you were going to allocate all the funds of the treasury to help rebuild the country. You don't have money to build such a thing. Besides, you can bet the citizens will be mad at you for wasting money."

Chrom closed his eyes and put his hand up to his face. His daughter still had no understanding of humor or jokes. Chrom hoped Lucina would one day finally understand when to not take statements seriously.

* * *

As the travelers began to approach the field outside of Southtown, Chrom immediately sent his wife and younger daughter on a reconnaissance mission to scourge for Robin's revived cadaver. Although the request seemed innocent enough, Chrom had other motives. He wanted to be the first one to greet Robin back. He knew the location of where he found Robin in the back of his head. He could probably find it blindfolded starting from the church in Southtown three years ago where the bandit leader Garrick was telling his crew to loot the town.

Upon seeing Southtown in view, Chrom began to run faster he ever had in his life. Not even the time when he was fleeing from Plegia Castle from Validar could compare to his speed this instant. Even with his Exalted Falchion weighing him down, he did not slow down even once. Chrom was so excited that he forgot he could have just asked Frederick for a ride to the fields. Lucina, Lissa, and Frederick watch as Chrom's face became smaller in front of them. Although it was still too far for Chrom to see if Robin was truly there, Chrom was certain his best friend was there. "Just a couple thousand more steps," he told himself.

"Father, calm yourself. You are going to collapse from exhaustion," his daughter yelled behind him inside the carriage.

But Chrom just kept running faster than a rabbit towards the plains, ready to welcome Robin back into the family.


	16. Reunion

"Chrom, we have to do SOMETHING."

"What do you propose we do?"

"I... I dunno..."

"I see you're awake now."

"Hey there!"

"There are better places to take a nap than on the ground you know. Give me your hand."

" _Not this again"_ Robin thought to himself. _"Is this what people mean when they say déjà vu?" But Naga told me everything was going to be fine and I would be back to when Grima no longer existed. Is there a mix-up? Did I go back in time again? Three years ago? I thought I was done with saving the world from Grima and all. Do I really have to save the world again?"_

Robin did exactly what he did last time, but quickly realized the Grima mark on his sign no longer existed. He barely had time to think about its significance before Chrom dragged him up and said something that obviously did not occur the last time he woke up like this. "Welcome back. It's over now."

"Chrom? Is it really over?" Robin said as he stared into his face.

Chrom had to smile at Robin's question. "Of course."

"Grima?"

"Dead."

"But why did you say the exact same…"

"Oh, my delicate little sister thought it would be funny to repeat our little meeting all those years ago. She wanted to have a little fun with you. But looking at your eyes when you woke up, it looks like we really did fool you well."

"HEY. I am not delicate." Lissa's voice permeated in the air.

Now, even Robin had to smile. It was nice to know the friends he had come to known extremely had not changed at all. Well, it was only a month, so that probably should not be surprising, but still.

Robin looked away from Chrom and Lissa and saw Lucina, Tiki, Cynthia, Frederick standing around them. It was obvious Lucina was trying to suppress her smile and prevent tears of happiness fall from the back of her eyes of seeing Robin come back from the dead, but of course, Robin had to pretend not to have noticed anything. He also quickly looked away from her face. There might have been a little blush from Lucina's face, but he didn't dare sneak another peak back at her face again. They just stood there, watching Robin. Nobody said anything for a few moments. Nobody dared to break the silence.

Of course, the perfect moment was interrupted by a groaning sound coming from the ground. It was then that Robin remembered what Naga had told him. His daughter was going to be here too. He immediately looked around for the source of the voice and saw someone dressed in a similar to his lying on the ground a little further up in the field. Robin did not know how the group only saw him and not this other body, but he did not have time to worry about that right now. He immediately ran towards the rising figure and saw the body rise up groaning with a hand up to her head, seemingly trying to alleviate the pain as if she had been knocked out by an assailant.

Morgan opened her eyes and saw a man in white hair running towards her. She did not have any idea of what she was doing in a random field of grass, but she did not have time to worry about that right now. Somebody was about to attack her. Instincts told her to immediately get out her magic books and prepare for a possible enemy attack. She instinctively got her weapon out from a pocket inside of her coat and rose up quickly to prepare for a fighting stance.

"Don't take another step or I'll incinerate you with…. Wait..." Morgan immediately realized who she was looking at. _"It couldn't be,"_ she thought to herself. _"I thought I would never find you. I almost gave up looking."_ She carefully analyzed his face. His hair. His clothes. They all matched what she remembers her father to look like. _"Yep, it's definitely him."_

Robin immediately stopped in front of her and immediately saw the girl drop her weapons and run towards him with a speed that seemed faster than Frederick's horse. "FATHER!" she yelled as crashed into her father and tackled him on the floor with a big hug. The two of them crashed onto the grass. Robin barely had time to react before he realized his back hit the ground and that he was being embraced in an extremely tight hug around his abdomen. He finally opened his eyes and saw what Naga told him was supposedly to be her daughter. Of course, he had absolutely zero idea what kind of person his daughter was in the future, as the future does not exist yet. Right now, most of her face was buried on his chest, so when Robin looked, all he saw was a big ball of blue hair.

The two of them stayed like this for around ten seconds. Finally, Morgan rose her head to look up at her father's face and Robin did the same. " _So this is what my daughter looks like. She's perfect."_ Robin thought to himself. " _She definitely got those eyes from me and her hair from her mother. Even the Brand of the Exalt."_

Morgan began to speak, "Oh father! I thought I would never find you. I was beginning to think we got separated."

Robin didn't know what to say. Before he thought up of how to respond, he head Chrom's voice around him.

"Robin? Who is this here? And why did she just call you father?"


End file.
